Weekend HeyGo Round-up
Jan. 25th, 2022 10:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse I went a bunch of places in Japan this weekend, virtually, via livestream. I suspect some of this is quite boring to some people, like that One Friend, who is always showing slides of their trips, but this is why these posts are specifically tagged 'HeyGo.'
Image: Canola flowers in Azumayama Park in Kanagawa, Japan.
This was one of the best tours of the past week. The tour guide was Erika and, once again, she brought her mom. The thing I loved about it was that Azumayama Park is one of those places that it's difficult to find a huge amount of information about in English. Thus, it very much felt like having a friend in Japan who is excited to take you to their favorites places, off the beaten track. In fact, Erika told us that this is her favorite park to visit every year to get a sneak peek of Spring. As I found out in a later tour, cherry blossoms are already beginning to bloom in Tokyo, but Kanagawa is a bit south of Tokyo, but these canola flowers (non-commercial) were in full bloom.
Azumayama Park is also known for its view of Mount Fuji. Of course, when Erika first arrived the clouds were gorgeous, but such that we all assumed that Fuji would stay hidden, per usual.
Image: Gorgeous cloudy day in Azumayama Park, Japan.
But, I guess I've just been very lucky on these "trips," because right at the end, Fuji made a brief appearance.
Image: A ghostly Fuji-sama just beyond Erika's mom.
I actually took a ton of postcards on this trip because the views were spectacular. Once again, I am absolutely certain that Azumayama Park would never, ever have made it on an itinerary if I had only a week or two in Japan.
So, that was Wednesday night. On Thursday, I jumped onto a tour with Yusuke. He took us to Mastsushima Bay, The bay was called out by a Confucian scholar from the 1600s, Hayashi Gahō, as one of the three most scenic views of Japan. The bay has a bunch of pine covered islands. He took us through the Bay's park and down to a feature called Uma no Se (馬の背), the Horse's Back peninsula.
A very narrow walk for our tour guide!
However, the trip out, did afford us some spectacular views.
Images: Islands in Matsushima Bay on a clear, bright day.
On Sunday, I briefly popped into another one of Eriko's tours, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan, apparently, but I came in late and hand to leave early, so I missed a lot of what that one was about. The most notable thing about this tour for me, given my brief stay, was that there was snow on the ground!
Image: Temple in the snow.
The last tour I took was last night, in which I joined a new set of tour guides, who took us on a rickshaw tour of the Asakusa district, Tokyo, Japan. If you recall, I've been to this district before with Erika, but this was a very different experience. The guy who led the tour was very... mmm, emotive. He was the kind to constantly say, "Wow! Yeah! Oooh, look at this, huh? Coooool!!" I found him rather charming, honestly. He took us to a "hidden" alleyway where he was met by his friend who is a rickshaw driver. Turns out, our guide was also a licensed rickshaw driver, so at one point they switched places as a "surprise." The whole thing was goofy, but highly entertaining.
They took us past Thunder Gate, the Kaminarimon (雷門,) which is the entrance to Senso-ji, which is the temple that Erika took us to in the last tour I had of this area.
I did not take a lot of pictures of this tour, because they would have mostly been the back of a guy's head and a view of the street. I found myself in this tour just sort of looking at the traffic. One of the things I learned in my Japanese language class when I learned that the Japanese consider the "go" on streetlights "aoi," blue, not green. The lights look exactly the same as ours, honestly, though you could maybe say their green is a bit bluer? To be fair, they also call "green" vegetables, blue, so it's mostly a cultural difference.
There was, this last week, a lot of emphasis on food. We learned that Matsushima Bay is famous for its oysters. When we were at the canola flower park, Erika and her mom, gave us an informal tea ceremony/picnic.
Informal tea, but with a table cloth and matcha tea, carefully prepared.
The rickshaw goofballs also stopped long enough to admire melonpan, so there's that.
Image: yummy melonpan.
Right. That's the whole series of them.
Image: Canola flowers in Azumayama Park in Kanagawa, Japan.
This was one of the best tours of the past week. The tour guide was Erika and, once again, she brought her mom. The thing I loved about it was that Azumayama Park is one of those places that it's difficult to find a huge amount of information about in English. Thus, it very much felt like having a friend in Japan who is excited to take you to their favorites places, off the beaten track. In fact, Erika told us that this is her favorite park to visit every year to get a sneak peek of Spring. As I found out in a later tour, cherry blossoms are already beginning to bloom in Tokyo, but Kanagawa is a bit south of Tokyo, but these canola flowers (non-commercial) were in full bloom.
Azumayama Park is also known for its view of Mount Fuji. Of course, when Erika first arrived the clouds were gorgeous, but such that we all assumed that Fuji would stay hidden, per usual.
Image: Gorgeous cloudy day in Azumayama Park, Japan.
But, I guess I've just been very lucky on these "trips," because right at the end, Fuji made a brief appearance.
Image: A ghostly Fuji-sama just beyond Erika's mom.
I actually took a ton of postcards on this trip because the views were spectacular. Once again, I am absolutely certain that Azumayama Park would never, ever have made it on an itinerary if I had only a week or two in Japan.
So, that was Wednesday night. On Thursday, I jumped onto a tour with Yusuke. He took us to Mastsushima Bay, The bay was called out by a Confucian scholar from the 1600s, Hayashi Gahō, as one of the three most scenic views of Japan. The bay has a bunch of pine covered islands. He took us through the Bay's park and down to a feature called Uma no Se (馬の背), the Horse's Back peninsula.
A very narrow walk for our tour guide!
However, the trip out, did afford us some spectacular views.
Images: Islands in Matsushima Bay on a clear, bright day.
On Sunday, I briefly popped into another one of Eriko's tours, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Japan, apparently, but I came in late and hand to leave early, so I missed a lot of what that one was about. The most notable thing about this tour for me, given my brief stay, was that there was snow on the ground!
Image: Temple in the snow.
The last tour I took was last night, in which I joined a new set of tour guides, who took us on a rickshaw tour of the Asakusa district, Tokyo, Japan. If you recall, I've been to this district before with Erika, but this was a very different experience. The guy who led the tour was very... mmm, emotive. He was the kind to constantly say, "Wow! Yeah! Oooh, look at this, huh? Coooool!!" I found him rather charming, honestly. He took us to a "hidden" alleyway where he was met by his friend who is a rickshaw driver. Turns out, our guide was also a licensed rickshaw driver, so at one point they switched places as a "surprise." The whole thing was goofy, but highly entertaining.
They took us past Thunder Gate, the Kaminarimon (雷門,) which is the entrance to Senso-ji, which is the temple that Erika took us to in the last tour I had of this area.
I did not take a lot of pictures of this tour, because they would have mostly been the back of a guy's head and a view of the street. I found myself in this tour just sort of looking at the traffic. One of the things I learned in my Japanese language class when I learned that the Japanese consider the "go" on streetlights "aoi," blue, not green. The lights look exactly the same as ours, honestly, though you could maybe say their green is a bit bluer? To be fair, they also call "green" vegetables, blue, so it's mostly a cultural difference.
There was, this last week, a lot of emphasis on food. We learned that Matsushima Bay is famous for its oysters. When we were at the canola flower park, Erika and her mom, gave us an informal tea ceremony/picnic.
Informal tea, but with a table cloth and matcha tea, carefully prepared.
The rickshaw goofballs also stopped long enough to admire melonpan, so there's that.
Image: yummy melonpan.
Right. That's the whole series of them.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 08:17 pm (UTC)I would love to see Paris again, too.
no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-01-25 09:40 pm (UTC)