Candied Kiwis
The 84 year olds together again
Shinto Ceremony
Shinto Ceremony
Shinto Ceremony
Shinto Ceremony
Shinto Ceremony
With the Mayor of Honjo City
Honjo Autumn Festival
Honjo Autumn Festival
Honjo Autumn Festival
Street side piano player
Honjo Autumn Festival Partiers
Reunited with our Sake Guide
Honjo Autumn Festival Float
Honjo Autumn Festival Float
Honjo Autumn Festival Float
Honjo Autumn Festival Brochure describing the various city district floats
Asako and Nobu
Lunch at Eiko’s friend’s restaurant
Eiko and friend
Lunch
Dinosaur Origami
Mom and Eiko looking at and discussing the Toyota Treddle Sowing Machine
Mom and Asako learning about the history of the Honjo Autumn Festival
Honjo Autumn Festival Historical Photo
Display of Honjo Autumn Festival Float Miniature Reproductions
With the artist who reproduced every Honjo Autumn Festival float in miniature over many years. He worked a full time job and then came home and worked on the floats for 2 hours after work every night.
Our last night at the festival
Final Float
Sashimi – Oiishi!!!
Marunouchi Hotel breakfast – Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict
Marunouchi Hotel – Rooftop Garden
Shinkansen Bullet Train to Honjo
Honjo Park – Scarecrows and Solar Panels
Picnic in the park with Eiko and Mom
Honjo – Waseda University exhibit of Haniwa terracotta figures, glass beads, and pottery dating back to the Paleolithic Period
Honjo – Waseda University
Honjo – Waseda University building exterior detail
Honjo Autumn Festival
Honjo Autumn Festival
Honjo Autumn Festival
Honjo Autumn Festival – Yakatori Vendor
Honjo Autumn Festival – Goldfish
Junko introducing us to friends at the festival
Honjo Autumn Festival – Following our businessman tour guide through the streets of Honjo in search of sake!
Honjo Autumn Festival – Sake!
Honjo Autumn Festival – The Revelers taking a sake and biru break from the mayhem in the streets
Honjo Autumn Festival – Eiko and Mom
Honjo Autumn Festival – Grilled Chicken
Honjo Autumn Festival – Yakisoba Noodle Sticks
Honjo Autumn Festival – Traffic Jam 1
Honjo Autumn Festival – Traffic Jam 2
Honjo Autumn Festival – Drum Battle at the intersection
Mom and Toshio at the Yatomi City train station
On the express train with Noriko from Yatomi City to Nagoya
Noriko waving goodbye from the Shinkansen train platform at Nagoya Station
Our route from Nagoya to Tokyo on the Nazomi 88 – Fastest train in Japan
Mt. Fuji at 200mph – North bound
Navigating through Tokyo Station with Asako
Fruit vendor – Tokyo Station
Ramen restaurant with Mom and Asako – Tokyo Station
Teriyaki Tonkatsu Ramen
Old and New – The Emperor’s Palace, Tokyo
Tokyo Street Scene
Tokyo Architecture
Tokyo skyline with Marunouchi Hotel centered between skyscrapers. Tokyo Station, a city within a city, in foreground
Marunouchi Hotel – Asako treated us very, very well in Tokyo – Domo Domo!
At Yakatori dinner with Mom, Asako, and Nobu
Tokyo at night with Old Tokyo Station in the foreground
Christmas in Tokyo at the Marunouchi Hotel
Travel Day – Backpacks on outside Muryoko-in Temple
Travel Day – Backpacks on outside Muryoko-in Temple
Boarding the Funicular at Koyasan Station – En route to Gokurako Bashi, Hashimoto, Nankai Namba, Osaka Metro, Shin-Osaka, Nagoya, and Yatomi Ciry to visit Toshio and Noriko Taki
Our new friends and train station – metro guides Greg and Mary Ann from Canberra. We kept running into them in Koyasan and then became fast friends on the funicular and trains on our mutual journey to Shin-Osaka.
Our Shinkansen Bullet Train trip from Shin-Osaka to Nagoya
Arrival at Nagoya Station
Reunion with Toshio after 8 years since the last time my Mom and Dad were in Japan in 2016. The last time I saw Toshio was in 1989 at Fumiaki Naito’s wedding. My family has been in communication with Noriko for over 20 years but never met her in person until now.
Mom, Toshio, and I
Gift exchange before onsen and dinner with Noriko and Toshio
A wonderful dinner with our lovely friends Toshio and Noriko!
Guest sandals at the entrance to Muryoko-in Temple where we stayed 2 nights in Koyasan with Buddhist Monks and Nuns
Traditional Sandals at Muryoko-in Temple
Okunoin Cemetery – Jizo Shrine
Okunoin Cemetery – Jizo Shrine
Shrine near the entrance to Kobo Daishi’s Mausoleum
Daily Buddhist ceremony at Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum where Buddhist monks carry food to nourish Kobo Daishi who is considered to be in eternal meditation
Okunoin Cemetery
Okunoin Cemetery – rock cairns on ancient cedar tree stump
Okunoin Cemetery Shrine
Tokugawa Mausoleum rock wall detail
Tokugawa Mausoleum roof detail
Koyasan Lab
Daikodo – Where we went through Buddhist Jukai – the formal rite of passage that marks entrance into the Buddhist community
Daimon the Grand Gateway to Koyasan
Garden outside Kongobu-ji Danjo Garan
Buddhist deity protecting the gate to Kongobu-ji Danjo Garan
Kongobu-ji Komoon Daito (Pagoda)
Kongobu-ji Garden Colors II
Kongobu-ji Garden Colors III
Kongobu-ji lantern detail
Kongubu-ji Daiedo roof detail
Kongobu-ji incense burner reflections
Kongobu-ji gate door detail
Koyasan Street side flowers
Kongobu-ji Grand Temple Rock Garden (Largest rock garden in Japan)
Kongobu-ji Grand Temple Rock Garden III
Komgubu-ji Grand Temple Rock Garden III
Kongobu-ji Grand Temple Rock Garden IV
Mom at Minshuku Yamamoto
Hello Kitty
Rice straw drying at Minshuku Yamamoto
Our Wonderful Hosts!
Our Wonderful Hosts!
We ended up at Minshuku Yamamoto in Uchino near Miura Guchi on a Saturday with no bus service to anywhere. Taxi was $200, our host offered to drive us 1.5 hours 1-Way to Omata for $100!
Reconstructed and retained hillside. These are all over the steep hillsides in mountainous Japan. Between Hongu Taisha and Koyasan there was lots of new construction to retain eroding hillsides.
Day 2 solo on the Kohechi Trail. This time was a more leisurely, but longer 14km hike round trip from Omata to the summit of Obako Dake (Mount Obako), the highest point at 4,435 feet on the Kohechi Trail and entire Kumano Kodo!
Hiking up from Omata
Jizo Shrine
Gravesite – Shrine with Asahi beer offering…I like their style!
Cabin available to the public for camping overnight
Cabin interior with 3 bunks and cookstove
Fall Colors I
Fall Colors II
Fall Colors III
Fall Colors IV
Fall Colors V
Forest Fruit
Kohechi Trail – Omata to Obako Dake
Obako Dake Summit
Obako Dake Panorama
Breakfast at Hotel Subaru
Local forest mushrooms
Public bus from Totsukawa Onsen to Miura Guchi
We had our own ‘private’ public bus all the way to Miura Guchi
Kazeya Reservoir
Tight squeeze on the mountain road to Miura Guchi
Our room at Minshuku Yamamoto
Kumano Kodo – Kohechi Trail Waymarker for Miura Toge Pass
Kohechi Trail Shrine
Kohechi Trail – Abandoned Barn
En route to Miura Toge near abandoned farm houses
The final push to Miura Toge Pass
Miura Toge Pass
Return to Uchino at 5:30pm in near complete darkness to a very concerned Mother, Minshuku host, and fellow guest from Hokkaido. They were just getting ready to send out the search party for me.
Morning soak on the river
With Pavel from Poland who was on his ‘round the world’ adventure for 1 year. He had been at the Olympic Peninsula in Port Townsend and Lake Ozette 1 month prior to coming to Japan. Pavel was hoping to end his adventures back in Washington kayaking and swimming with the Orca Whales in the San Juan Islands!
Hongu Taisha stairs detail. The beginning of our Kumano Kodo – Kohechi Trail adventure!
Mom charging the hill on the first 5KM of the Kohechi Trail
Tonkatsu for lunch at Hotel Subaru
Mom accepting adulations and blowing kisses to her adoring fans from the Hotel Subaru concert stage!
Burke on the Hotel Subaru Cable Car
Hotel Subaru dinner menu
River Fish
Sashimi
Tofu