[RD] Exploring Japan

[warpus]

Nigatsu-dō

This building is known as The Hall of the Second Month. It is a 15 minute or so hike uphill from the Great Buddha Hall





The views were pretty nice from up here

 

[Arakhor]

Ooh, very pleasant!

 

[JohannaK]

Oooh, what samurai film were they shooting?

 

[warpus]

If I was more of a samurai film buff I could probably come up with an answer incorporating my username or something But yeah, this temple was built in a very nice spot. Looking back towards the city, it doesn't even look like it's that close. It makes it appear as though you're on a far away hill, in some sort of a magical complex of buildings that were somehow designed to look pretty from every conceivable angle

 

[JohannaK]

It looks so remote and... medieval. It's amazing it stands up so well.

 

[warpus]

No kidding! It's pretty old too - construction began in 751, but the complex was actually destroyed in a fire in 1667. It was rebuilt in 1669. I am not sure how close it is to the original design.

This is actually one of the most important structures of the Tōdai-ji temple (the one with the large buddha).. You wouldn't think it's part of the same temple, they're not that close. It's essentially a little complex of buildings inside a much larger park which makes up the Tōdai-ji temple grounds.. These grounds are adjacent to Nara Park, which itself is fairly large.. So if you're just walking around, exploring, it might seem as though you're walking through a giant park, with random temples here and there.

The main hall of this temple is considered a Japanese National treasure and one of the country's most important cultural artefacts

If you have also noticed that this sort of reminds you of the landscapes of Kyoto.. Kyoto is just 1 hour to the north by train.. If you had a drone and flew it north, you would continue seeing mountains on the right (east) and an urban area on the left. Eventually you'd be in Kyoto. The way the urban areas in this part of Japan are all connected is a bit interesting. Essentially all these cities are connected to Osaka and Kobe.. and many other cities.. although in some places mountains do get in the way

 

[tjs282]

No kidding! It's pretty old too - construction began in 751, but the complex was actually destroyed in a fire in 1667. It was rebuilt in 1669. I am not sure how close it is to the original design.

I read an anecdote years ago, in [something] by Douglas Adams, which contrasted the Japanese and European/western attitudes to "historical buildings"

I don't remember all the details, but the general upshot was that according to the Japanese philosophical approach to life (the universe, and everything), it wouldn't matter if a building had burnt completely to the ground: after reconstruction it would still be the 'same' building. I think he said (probably paraphrasing badly here, but...) it was because the Japanese would generally consider a building's design/purpose, rather than its (temporary) material form, to be the definitive source of that building's historical value.

The anecdote might even have been in connection with this specific Temple, but I'd have to re-locate and re-read the source to be certain.

 

[warpus]

I found the quote you are talking about! I did not put it in quotes, as that makes it harder to read:

“I remembered once, in Japan, having been to see the Gold Pavilion Temple in Kyoto and being mildly surprised at quite how well it had weathered the passage of time since it was first built in the fourteenth century. I was told it hadn’t weathered well at all, and had in fact been burnt to the ground twice in this century. “So it isn’t the original building?” I had asked my Japanese guide.

“But yes, of course it is,” he insisted, rather surprised at my question.
“But it’s burnt down?”
“Yes.”
“Twice.”
“Many times.”
“And rebuilt.”
“Of course. It is an important and historic building.”
“With completely new materials.”
“But of course. It was burnt down.”
“So how can it be the same building?”
“It is always the same building.”

I had to admit to myself that this was in fact a perfectly rational point of view, it merely started from an unexpected premise. The idea of the building, the intention of it, its design, are all immutable and are the essence of the building. The intention of the original builders is what survives. The wood of which the design is constructed decays and is replaced when necessary. To be overly concerned with the original materials, which are merely sentimental souvenirs of the past, is to fail to see the living building itself.”

 

[warpus]

On my walk to the next temple I ran into 2 little girls feeding a deer. It was too cute of a photo op to just walk past it. Their parents were right there and okay with me taking the photos

 

[warpus]

Kasuga-taisha

Kasuga Grand Shrine is a Shinto Shrine first built in 768. It's famous for the many bronze lanterns at the shrine and the many stone lanterns outside.







The Kasugayama Primeval Forest is nearby, although I am not quite sure if this is it up ahead in the above photo (but I think so). The shrine and the forest are both UNESCO World Heritage sites.

In the above photo you can also see the stone lanterns. There are over 3,000 of them.

 

[warpus]

Goodbye to Nara

The walk back to town took me through another part of Nara Park.





Below you can see a not so great shot of Ukimi-do Hall



And here's some shots of the city with the Kōfuku-ji five story pagoda in the backdrop that I took on the walk back to the guesthouse





I can't stop raving about the accommodations for this night at the $24 a night guesthouse. Out of all the places I stayed at in Japan this was one of the more memorable. It's funny because all you get for that is a bed in a bunk bed dorm room type setup.. the difference being that the walls around you are covered in cloth of some sort.. and you have 100% privacy.. and everybody around you is super quiet and trying to not make any sounds. Everything was very clean, including the bathrooms which looked brand new.. I can't even remember what I ate that day.. but I do remember that I was lying in bed just reading my book for a while, enjoying the silence.. resting after a long day.

In the morning I would wake up early again and jump on another train

 

[warpus]

Mitsuo Nakatani the Mochi Master

This video is from earlier in the day. It features the fastest Mochi maker in Japan, although I had no idea at the time.

Mochi is a sort of Japanese rice cake. What you are looking at is mochitsuki, a traditional ceremony during which mochi is made.

 

[warpus]

Assorted Nara Videos

Looking back through all my media, here's some videos from Nara that got missed in the mix.

 

[warpus]

Day 14 - Train to Kobe

On this day I woke up early and walked to the train station. I had a plan in mind for the rest of the day that would first take me to Osaka, where I would transfer onto the high speed rail line and head west. This was a monday and so I ran into a decently busy rush hour.. and a confusing mess of rail and subway lines in Osaka..

I missed my stop in Osaka and had to go back, but then eventually made it to the high speed rail line and booked a ticket to Kobe on the next Shinkansen. The plan was to grab some lunch in Kobe, then jump back on the high speed train heading west, stop in Himeji, and then jump on again to finally end up in Hiroshima. I wasn't sure if I would be able to squeeze all of this into the day at the time.. but I was willing to give it a try...

When I arrived in Kobe it was raining quite a bit.. I left my large backpack in a storage locker at the high speed rail station, and then promptly opened it again.. and had to pay again to store my backpack in the storage locker. And it was almost noon..

I looked up the best steakhouses near the train station and found a couple options with great reviews about a 15 minute walk into the city.. I walked there in the rain and finally arrived in the lobby



Turns out they were packed full.. I was given the option of coming back in 45 minutes.. So I went outside, but due to the rain was forced to seek shelter in a nearby staircase... I walked up a couple flights and sat down on the steps... This staircase was on the outside of the building, so it was shielded from the rain, but you could still see some of the city from your vantage point.. I sat there for 40 minutes or so and killed some time.. then walked back to the restaurant.

Success! There was room for me to sit down and have a meal. My objective was to splurge a bit and eat a really good A5 Wagyu steak in Kobe, Japan, at a good steakhouse. I ordered the best steak on the menu, which came to about $120 USD IIRC. This came with a miso soup, some rice, an appetizer, a salad, grilled vegetables, and probably something I am forgetting..

A couple minutes after ordering, the chef came out and presented the cut of meat that he was going to be cooking for me



Wagyu is one of the four Japanese breeds of beef cattle.. The cows tend to be fattier due to the way they are fed, and the meat takes on a marbly quality as a result. It looks quite fatty, but most of what you see is quite edible and quite tasty..

The A represents the highest possible yield of meat and the 5 represents the highest possible grade. A5 Wagyu Kobe beef uses a specific strain of Wagyu called Tajima-Gyu that is raised to strict standards in the prefecture of Hyogo. The capital of Hyogo being Kobe...

Kobe was on my way to my other destinations and I eventually convinced myself to try to squeeze in a steak. It ended up working out and I'm really glad that it did. To this day I can still remember how heavenly this steak tasted.. It's like no other steak I ever ate before... Most of it sort of melts in your mouth.. but it's not fatty tasting at all and you get that steak experience.. The unfortunate part is that you do not get a lot of steak at all.. but the meal comes with a whole bunch of stuff so when it's all said and done you are more or less satisfied

The included appetizer arrived in the form of A5 Wagyu carpaccio

 

[JohannaK]

So it is worth it.

 

[Arakhor]

I can't imagine any meal being worth $120. (If that's CAD, maybe £70?)

 

[Cutlass]

Assorted Nara Videos

Looking back through all my media, here's some videos from Nara that got missed in the mix.

I can't make these videos play for some reason.

 

[amadeus]

@warpus has eaten more wagyu than I have and I have 10 years on him.

My favorite spot in Kobe isn’t around Sannomiya, but Shinkaichi, the old commercial district. Over time, it shifted further over towards Sannomiya. You can walk it in an hour but there’s not much to see between the two areas.

If you go to Kobe and take JR, don’t get off at Kobe Station though—Sannomiya is really the heart of the city despite any station names.

 

[warpus]

So it is worth it.

As a once in a lifetime type of meal, definitely

I can't make these videos play for some reason.

Hmm that's strange, what happens? Can you send me a private message with the problem/error you are seeing?

I can't imagine any meal being worth $120. (If that's CAD, maybe £70?)

It was $120 USD, but that might have included a beer and a coffee too, I can't remember. Most taxes included and no tipping.

It's not an amount I would pay for a meal every day or even every week or month, but my trip was budgeted to include a couple splurges, and in the end I'm happy that this is what I decided to end up doing. As far as memories go, this one was quite memorable

@warpus has eaten more wagyu than I have and I have 10 years on him.

My trip budget was set up for a couple dinner (or whatever type of) splurges, and when I realized I would be basically taking a train through Kobe at around lunchtime.. I couldn't resist.. The rail pass makes it easy to just get off the train in Kobe and resume your journey right after lunch. There's so many trains going in both directions you have a lot of flexibility

[My favorite spot in Kobe isn’t around Sannomiya, but Shinkaichi, the old commercial district. Over time, it shifted further over towards Sannomiya. You can walk it in an hour but there’s not much to see between the two areas.

If you go to Kobe and take JR, don’t get off at Kobe Station though—Sannomiya is really the heart of the city despite any station names.

I wouldn't have had time to head to that part of town unless I cut out Himeji out of my itinerary, probably. I don't think I even looked into any of this at the time, I knew I would only have time for lunch. So unfortunately I didn't really get to experience much of Kobe. I do remember it, but the rain is a big part of that memory too, and 15 minutes walking to a restaurant you don't really end up getting a good feel for the city either

 

[warpus]

My steak being cooked

I asked the chef to prepare the steak the way he thought was best. I believe that ended up being medium rare.

As you can see the best part of the steak is not very big. It gets cut up into pieces and you end up with 3 different piles of steak slices IIRC. From what I remember the part being cooked in the last video gets cut up into 2 piles.. Very good and good.. The fatty parts are in a separate pile that you can eat with the vegetables or with whatever. I ended up eating everything.

As you're eating the chef is continually preparing the next part of your meal for you. It's hard to see, but in the next picture he is cooking beansprouts right beside a bunch of small cuts of a certain part of the steak. It turns into these crunchy bits and releases a bunch of fat that the vegetables can be cooked in.



The steak gets plated on a plate which also has 4 piles of seasonings.. Pepper, salt, another kind of salt, and something else.. There are also these fried discs of garlic that were very good

I asked about the chef's favourite way to eat this type of steak, and he said to go for the Japanese salt and that's it. Maybe some pepper. So I did that, plus the garlic

It was definitely the right call. Looking through the pictures, it looks like I also got a cofee and some sort of a desert. That may or may not have been included with the meal.