The changing of the seasons in Cascadia are marked by important events. We know springtime is right around the corner when you spy someone in a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops on a sunny day even though it’s only 42 degrees outside. The beginning of fall is accompanied by talk of Ducks and Beavers while waiting in line for a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.
In Japan, each new season is marked by the blooming of flowers. Cherry blossoms and wisteria in the spring, irises and hydrangea in the summer and now red spider lilies are popping up in gardens all over town.
Red spider lilies at Kinchakuda-Manjushage Park in Hidaka City
In nearby Hidaka City, an annual festival is held at Kinchakuda-Manjushage Park along the Koma River to celebrate the blooming of the lilies. The vibrant red flowers are in strong contrast to both their spring-green stems and the green canopy of the meadow in which they grow.
Click any photo below to view as a slideshow. Scroll down for festival details and video from the day.
Looking out over the meadow of lilies.
The path winds through the middle of the flowers, letting visitors get right up close and personal.
First stop was lunch at Alishan Organic Cafe, one of our favorite cafes in Japan. Choosing from a smaller festival menu to handle all the visitors, we had donburi and seasonal veggie curry. It’s right next to the park, so if you visit the festival, check out Alishan!
A large black swallowtail butterfly was a popular target for the point-and-shoot photographers.
Only in Japan: Komatsuna (Japanese mustard greens) and apple frozen yogurt. Odd, but tasty!
Looking out over the meadow of lilies.
Outside the Orugon Dou (オルゴン堂) natural yeast bakery, one of the many interesting buildings in old Hidaka.
The girl has a “you’re kidding me, right?” look about feeding her carrot to the donkey.
This pair in full costume were being filmed both by a professional photographer and videographer. In 2014, a dozen films and television shows were filmed in Hidaka City.
Several cartoon-style dolls were arranged beside the path near Koma River. Everyone with a camera stopped to snap some photos of the very strange, yet also very Japanese, scene.
Many people took advantage of the beautiful weather and scenery to spread out a picnic.
Thanks to the passer-by who snapped a photo for us. It almost looks like there’s nobody else there…
A view of the Koma River with red spider lilies growing beside the bridge.
Red spider lilies at Kinchakuda-Manjushage Park in Hidaka City
Every once in awhile, a white lily would poke its head out amongst its red brethren.
Locally-made miso paste and soy sauce mixed with rice. Unique and delicious!
Local food, beer and crafts a plenty at the Kinchakuda Festival in Hidaka City, Saitama.
A young girl feeding grass to one of the horses at the neighboring farm. The farm is right on the edge of the park and is open to the public during the festival for rides and pets.
Captured with the GoPro, this horse would do a lap around its pen, returning back to the rail to see if anyone had brought a treat. Usually a child with a carrot or grass wasn’t far away.
One of the many jangseung (Korean totem pole) found throughout Hidaka. The city has a long history with Korea, dating back to the settlement of refugees in the 8th century.
The Kinchakuda Festival (website in Japanese) runs every weekend from now through October 4, 2015. They have lots of great local food vendors, live music and the nearby farm offers horse rides and a petting zoo.
During late spring in Japan, the weather is in the sweet spot for bringing a bounty of blossoms out for viewing. It’s hard not to have a little extra joy in your heart. A couple weeks ago, we visited Chichibu for the phlox blossoms and last weekend we headed back for the “heavenly poppies” at Sainokuni Friendship Farm.
Enjoy the photos (click any of them to view at a larger size) and watch the video at full size for a couple of special treats.
The street leading to Chichibu shrine is full of quaint shops, feeling like a throwback to another timeOne of those quaint shops, “Cocktail Bar Snob.” Finally a cocktail bar that’s keeping it real!100 of these statues, called kaiun annai ban (開運案内板) or “Good Luck Guide Plates” are located around the area of Chichibu Shrine.Two cats ruling the roost in a small neighborhood park near Chichibu Shrine.The haiden (prayer hall) of Chichibu Shrine. The shrine dates back more than 900 years and was a sacred site during the Edo period.Some of the colorful carvings around the top of Chichibu Shrine. The work is attributed to Jingoro Hidari, an artist from the early 1600s famous for a similar—and much more famous—monkey carving at Nikko Shrine.The monkeys get another treatment on an ema, wooden planks on which worshippers at Shinto shrines write their prayers.A ceremony took place in the shrine while we were there and they gathered for a photo after. The Shinto priest (kannushi) is seated in the middle. It appeared to be a business group, perhaps receiving a blessing for an upcoming project, a common occurrence in Japan.We had lunch at a great macrobiotic place near Chichibu Shrine called Tsuki no Usagi (Moon Rabbit). It was a little hard to find as it was tucked back off the main road, but well worth the effort!The train to the poppy fields with Mt. Buko in the backgroundThe bus from Minano Station is decorated with characters from a Japanese cartoon (anime) called Anohana that was set in Chichibu. Many visitors to Chichibu come to see the sights from the show.Rikyu Shrine, a small shrine in the woods along the road to the poppy fields. Shuttle services to the fields ended the weekend before our visit, so we got a nice 2.5 KM walk up the hill to see them.The poppy fields of Sainokuni Friendship Farm. Click the photo for a larger image.The poppy fields of Sainokuni Friendship Farm.
There’s only one thing anybody wants to know right now…
Did you do anything for Golden Week?
I’ll concede there’s a small chance this topic is only relevant among people living in Japan and, if it’s coming up in English, it’s only a hot topic among 0.01 percent of the population. But hey, that’s my demographic!
UN Farmers Market and Cinco de Mayo
We started our Golden Week with a weekend trip into Tokyo to visit one of our favorite farmers markets and hit up the Cinco de Mayo Festival at Yoyogi Park.
The latest edition of “True Portland”—a high-quality Portland, Ore. guidebook written by Japanese authors in Japanese—was released recently. The authors had a pop-up tent at the UN Farmers Market featuring Portland products like Jacobsen Salt and Fuller Foods Serious Cheesy Puffs.Oregon Beer Geeks is a company in Japan that imports beer from Oregon and sells it online. At the UN Market, they had two beers from Burnside Brewing and one from The Commons Brewery, both based in Portland.Lunch at the UN Farmers Market—a vegetarian take on Hawaiian plate lunch, a hummus and veggie bagel pizza and Burnside Brewing’s “Too Sticky To Roll India Red Ale” and “Sweet Heat,” an apricot and Scotch bonnet pepper wheat beer.Tokyo’s take on Cinco de Mayo is a lot like America’s take—lots of drinking and sad Mexican-ish food. The best find was probably this Day of the Dead Porter from Mexico’s Cerveceria Mexicana brewery.
Chichibu’s Hitsujiyama Park
Chichibu is our favorite place for outdoor adventures in Japan. It’s about an hour away by train and is usually pretty quiet. However, during Golden Week, thousands of people descend on the otherwise sleepy town to see the shibazakura or mountain phlox at Hitsujiyama Park.
Video: Mountain Phlox in Chichibu
Phans of the phlox phlocking to Chichibu (see what I did there?)The phlox fields at Hitsujiyama Park in Chichibu (click to zoom)The heart of the phlox gardenMt. Buko sits in the distancePeople sitting around the edge of the garden having a picnic and, in many cases, a napTourists getting in the way of the view of the phlox 🙂Local Chichibu honey for sale at Hitsujiyama Park. A large queen bee is inside each jar.“Hitsuji” means “sheep” in Japanese and “yama” means “mountain,” so the aptly-named Sheep Mountain Park should have a few sheep wandering the grounds. The local paparazzi went crazy for this one.A window in a home near the park proudly displaying its winnings from the UFO Catcher gamesMt. Buko and a bright red neighborhood shrine. The scarring at the top of Mt. Buko is a result of heavy mining of limestone used for the ever-present construction in the larger cities.After a day of walking, we went to an onsen (hot springs) in the nearby Yokoze neighborhood. This is proof that I can use chopsticks like a champ!
Koburi Pass
We milked every last second out of Golden Week, heading out on the last day of the holidays to nearby Hanno for some hiking. We found a very non-touristy spot called Koburi Pass. We befriended a couple of older Japanese ladies at the train station, one of whom nearly missed the train when she went upstairs to get us some local sightseeing pamphlets.
Lots to see along the way, like this statue of Buddha playing a mandolinThese happy farm animals were painted outside a local butcher shopWalking up the road to the hiking trails leading to Koburi PassSeveral small shrines appear along the path, like this one of the Seven Gods of Fortune (七福神). Hikers leave coins at each shrine for good fortune.A view of the Okuchichibu Mountains as we approached the top of Koburi Pass. Mt. Fuji was barely visible due to the cloud cover, but it’s not at all visible in this photoLunch under the pagoda of Marishiten Temple. From the very top of the pass, we could look over the entirety of Saitama Prefecture. On a clear day, Tokyo Skytree is visible, nearly 50 miles away.Springtime in Japan in all of its glory. The wisteria trees in bloom.Viburnum plicatum is better known as the Japanese snowball.Mountain laurel is native to the eastern United States, but it found its way to JapanKoi swimming free in a stream near the train station
How did you spend Golden Week? Leave a comment below!
We woke up early on our final day in Kyoto. The Lonely Planet guidebook suggested arriving at Ginkaku-ji as soon as it opened to avoid the crowds.
We hopped on the #100 bus at Kyoto Station, which I’d wished we’d taken on our first day as it was essentially a 230 yen tour bus. It carried us past the massive orange torii at Heian Shrine and five other must-see sights. It was also a subtle reminder that three days in Kyoto wasn’t nearly enough.
The pavilion at Ginkaku-ji
After rubbing shoulders with thousands of our closest friends over the previous couple days, arriving at Ginkaku-ji before the crowds was simply amazing. You could get the sense of what it would have been like to walk the grounds before it became a tourist attraction. With only a handful of people inside, our ears rang with silence and tranquility.
The temple, officially known as Jishō-ji, was built as a retirement villa for shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa in the late 1400s. Ashikaga’s grandfather had commissioned the golden pavilion of Kinkaku-ji and Jishō-ji was intended to resemble that pavilion, including a silver-foil facade. However, the Ōnin War delayed construction and Ashikaga died before the silver foil could be applied. The common name Kinkaku-ji (“Temple of the Silver Pavilion”) became a popular nickname in the 1600s.
A carefully-raked pile of sand in the Kinkaku-ji garden in the shape of Mt. Fuji
The stellar gardens are highlighted by two meticulously maintained sand sculptures. The first sits in front of the pavilion itself. The sand formed into a four-foot tall homage to the sacred Mt. Fuji.
The sand garden in front of the residence
Sitting on the veranda of the residence, you can gaze over the second sand garden with its sharp curves and lines. A maintenance man was straightening the sculptured sand before the crowds arrived with the precision of a surgeon.
The temple path leads up into the surrounding hills. From one overlook, you can see a Chinese parasol tree growing in the distance. In 2011, a seedling from a tree in Hiroshima that survived the atomic bomb during World War II was planted on the hillside.
Seeking enlightenment on the Philosopher’s Path
From Kinkaku-ji, we headed down the Philosopher’s Path, a two-kilometer walk along a cherry tree-lined canal leading to Nanzen-ji temple. The path was named for Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro who would follow the path on his daily walk to Kyoto University. The surrounding neighborhood mixes residences with small cafes, giving it more of a European feel.
The main gate (sanmon) at Nanzen-ji
We arrived at Nanzen-ji, our last stop before heading home. The massive sanmon (main gate) welcomes you into the surprisingly large grounds. The temple was established in the late 1200s and buildings seem to sprout from the surrounding trees.
The aqueduct of Nanzen-ji
The most impressive of all of the temple’s structures was the long, arching aqueduct. It was built in the 1800s to provide water from Lake Biwa west to Kyoto. It looked out of place amongst the traditional eastern architecture, but the curves of the arches provided several foolproof photo opportunities.
With that, our unforgettable Kansai trip came to an end. We boarded the Shinkansen for Tokyo Station and returned to real life.
For the last week, there’s been a sweet smell in the air reminiscent of apricots. Are there fruit trees in bloom? Is there some sort of autumn perfume that everyone is wearing?
Turns out, the smell comes from the blossoms of the kinmokusei, or the gold osmanthus. The bright orange flowers and their glorious scent mark the unofficial beginning of fall in Japan.
The blossoms of the kinmokusei. We’ve passed this ordinary green shrub a hundred times, but only now is it demanding attention
The flower is used in various fragrances, including deodorizers and perfumes. They’re so prevalent in our neighborhood that you rarely turn a corner without encountering the olfactory candy known as kinmokusei.
I was running through nearby Wakaba today when a man on an old-timey bicycle rode by. One of those with the big front wheel and the tiny back wheel. Sadly, he was wearing a t-shirt and khaki pants, not sporting a ditto suit and bowler hat.
Rice fields forever
Rice fields flooded as the growing season gets underway.
Paul McCartney could have modified the Beatles’ classic “Strawberry Fields Forever” if he’d been able to play his Tokyo shows last month. The rice fields are fully flooded all over Saitama as the growing season begins. It’s a throwback scene as farmers in straw hats tend to the fields from sun-up to sundown.
Letting nature take its course
Another neat scene on the main drag in our little part of Kawagoe last week. A bird set up its nest full of eggs in the awning over the middle of the sidewalk running in front of the shops. Instead of moving the nest or knocking it down, the shopkeeper taped some newspaper to the sidewalk under the nest to catch the droppings. The mama bird sat perched on the edge of the nest while person after person stopped to see what was up.
Weekend trip to Ōmiya
We popped over to Ōmiya, one of the busiest cities in Saitama Prefecture, over the weekend. The plan was to visit the city’s famous bonsai nurseries and hit up the Keyaki Hiroba Spring Beer Festival.
After a quick train ride, we walked the path to Hakawa Shrine. Statues and banners with squirrels are all over town. We quickly discovered the city’s love affair with the Ōmiya Ardija (Spanish for “squirrel”) soccer team, Ōmiya’s entry into the Japanese Professional Football League.
The shrine was originally established in 473 B.C. It was impressive as usual, but the surrounding grounds were the highlight. A pond is home to dozens of turtles, which swam and sunned alongside the pond, seemingly ignorant to the handful of gawking tourists.
Turtles rock!
We had lunch from a stand in adjacent Ōmiya Koen, a large park with a soccer stadium (home to the Ardija), baseball stadium, velodrome and zoo. We ordered some veggie yakisoba and french fries and impressed the vendor enough that she complimented my Japanese! She was clearly lying, but it was a great confidence boost.
We only found one bonsai nursery, which was cool, but fell into one of Japan’s numerous dichotomies. The nursery didn’t allow photographs and charged 200 yen for admission to the main nursery. Now, if I could take photos, I’d pay 200 yen. But, if I can’t get in for photos, I’m fine with glancing at the free stuff.
The trees themselves are amazing. One looked like a 100-year-old maple tree, but only stood about 18 inches tall. The art and care that goes into creating the trees is something else.
Along the way, we stumbled on the Cartoon Art Museum. The small museum featured the cartoon art of Kitazawa Rakuten. Impressive, but with displays only in Japanese, it lent itself to a quick tour.
Coedo Brewery, Kawagoe’s premier craft brewer, set up shop for the weekend at the Keyaki Hiroba Spring Beer Festival in Ōmiya.
Finally, we headed to the Saitama Super Arena for the Keyaki Hiroba Spring Beer Festival. Approximately 60 breweries from all over Japan, and a couple American breweries (including Oregon’s Rogue Ales) tapped their kegs for the weekend festival. It reminded me of the Oregon Brewers Festival on Portland’s waterfront, but in about a tenth of the space and with as many tents and people. Beer enthusiasts lined up shoulder to shoulder to partake in the best of Japan’s burgeoning craft brewing industry.
We tried Hokkaido Brewing’s Melon Wheat and Raspberry White ales as well as Market Brewing’s Mango Orange Ale and Hop Seduction Session IPA. All were great, especially on a day where temperatures entered the 90s for the first time this year.
Most of the breweries get their exposure at these types of festivals or in local supermarkets. The beer aisle at most grocery stores is still dominated by the “Big 3″—Kirin, Asahi and Sapporo. It’s great to see artisan brewing get some well-deserved attention.
One of my favorite things to do in a new town is to get lost. Just start walking or driving until you have no idea where you are, then find your way home.
Typically, this isn’t as scary as it sounds. You stay out of dark alleys, keep main roads nearby and use the signs and known landmarks to guide your way back.
I headed out for my first big walkabout on my own. To be fair, I actually started out looking for the train station with the plan of taking it to Kawagoe Station to get Starbucks, but I’m hardly the first person to have a spiritual journey on their way to buy overpriced coffee.
I passed the Belc grocery store and the 100 Yen Shop (the current exchange rate is about ¥100 to $1, so it’s like the Dollar Store only way, WAY better). I bucked temptation, passing more than one of Kawagoe’s many patisseries. And I kept walking… and walking… and walking. I realized I was missing a few tools from previous treks.
First, the lack of a smartphone, GPS, Google Maps, internet, etc. makes you wonder how smart you actually are without these things. All of the buildings are two stories or higher, so it’s hard to find landmarks at a distance. The roads dance about like a ballerina, resulting in a bizzaro world of directional dissonance.
Second, very few of the street signs are in English. Every once in awhile, the fine folks at Kawagoe Public Works throw you a bone and give you a street sign in both Japanese and English. It’s just enough to recalibrate your path.
Finally, I left my water and snacks at home. It was high noon, 70 degrees, and very sunny. Fortunately, the ever-present vending machines appear every few blocks like some desert mirage. I had a pocket full of yen, so I was able to replace electrolytes in the middle of neighborhoods, street corners, parks… really, pretty much anywhere.
You tend to find very interesting things on these kinds of journeys. Kawagoe has several excellent paved paths surrounding recreational areas. In between two of the paths, a long field featured soccer and softball fields as well as an epic putt-putt golf course. Four players used croquet mallets and balls to putt the ball from tee to cup on an 18-hole course.
Community gardens, fantastic public park spaces and small shrines pepper the city’s neighborhoods. Some of the shrines are larger and supported by community donations while others seem to be built and managed by nearby homeowners. The parks are an interesting contrast of brown, dead-looking grass and brand-new playground equipment, tennis courts and picnic tables.
Community garden in KawagoeA park in Kawagoe’s Isehara neighborhood
The biggest surprise of all is my growing fascination with Japanese mailboxes. I find myself snapping pictures of them left and right. Some are traditional, some playful, but rarely boring.
One of many adorable mailboxes you’ll find in Japan
At this point, every trip out of the house results in a walkabout. Can’t wait for the next opportunity to get lost!
