Japan

 We were on our own this morning to attend the festival.  We had been told there might be some kind of appearance behind our hotel of the  Yakuza .  This criminal gang was at one time a major problem in Japan with their membership reaching several hundred thousand.  Their numbers have dwindled to under 20,000 with the youth not interested in joining.  They are distinguished by their full body tattoos which were on full display this morning.  The crowds were huge trying to see them but somewhat dissipated as soon as they left. Also along the parade route were drum corps that performed periodically during the day.  We stopped to watch one in front of a convenience store that was almost 100% female.  Some walked around the route performing while others had a specific spot.  It was clearly exhausting to the performers.  There was even a very small group of drums being played by children in training for the time they could play in a larg...

 This morning we loaded back on the bus for our return to Tokyo for the  Sanji Matsuri Festival .  We stayed at the  Akausa View Hotel  which was in the heart of the festival.  This hotel was obviously the base for many of the festival participants with many of them in the lobby in their festival clothing.  We could actually look down on the action from our room. Because many of the area restaurants are small, we were on our own for lunch.  We wondered across the street and found  Fukumen . This Mexican restaurant was authentic and very tasty.  It also happened to be on the parade route so we were able to leave our table when another shrine marched by. About the festival.  One of the largest in Japan, the festival celebrates the three founders of the  Sensoji Temple  and dates back to 1615.  Portable shrines, mikoshi, are paraded around the streets.  They are said to house Shinto Deities and are awakened by the b...

 We had a 4 a.m. call to board our bus for a sunrise shot on the lake.  Sunrise is 4:38 here which is why the early morning departure was necessary.  We set up on the lakes edge and waited.  Without clouds, the sunrise wasn't very spectacular.   We returned to the hotel for breakfast before heading out for more photos.  Our first stop was  Honcho Street in Fujiyoshida  for a photo of the mountain at the end of the street.  We then walked to  Shinkurayama Sengen Park  where we were able to climb to a pagoda with Mt. Fuji in the background.  This was a popular spot despite the climb with lots of people gathered at the top for photos. Next we visited the  Fujiyoshida Sengen Shrine  with it's towering cedar tree path leading to the shrine area with some buildings dating back to 1615.  There was apparently some of the best coffee of the trip in a little trailer parked at the shrine.  This was our first stop ...

 This morning after breakfast we sent our bags on a separate transport while we traveled to Mt. Fuji on a Shinkansen.  The trip took a little over two hours.  We transferred to  our bus for the next few days and drove to the Mt. Fuji area.  Unfortunately it was shrouded in clouds so we decided to visit a tea plantation ..  The tea was growing in perfectly strait rows covering rolling hillsides.  The tea is harvested several times a year, but the bushes can continue to produce for many years before having to be replanted.  It was very quiet and peaceful.  The fog rolled in with the breeze and gave it an other worldly look. The wind started picking up which meant we had a chance that the clouds would blow off Mt. Fuji.  We continued on the bus to a better vantage point.  We were lucky that it cleared so we could get shots from several different locations including Lake Kawaguchiko  and  Lake Saiko   Some people visit an...

 We had an early departure for the bamboo forest .  The trail is enveloped by giant bamboo trees forming a canopy overhead.  Because of our early arrival(by 6) we were able to get several nice shots with the early morning sun.  By the time we departed there were large groups of people entering and I'm certain it just got more busy. We were ahead of schedule so we stopped at a Otagi Nembutsuji Buddhist temple that contained over 1200 stone busts planted into the surrounding hillside.  They each had different expressions.  I could have stayed here for hours looking at all of them.  They were so fun and uplifting.  The moss covering their heads just added to their appeal. There was a photography one, a tennis player, a happy face, a grumpy face, and hundreds of others.   Our next destination  was to see monkeys at the Arashiyama Monkey Park .  It was quite a hike to get to the viewing area, involving, stairs, a path, more stairs, ...

 Today was our day to visit a couple of very famous Kyoto temples and shrines.  The first was the Fushimi Inari Shrine .  This is the one you see all the time with the famous red torii gates.  To say there were a lot of people visiting would be an understatement.  At first I thought I would never get a clean photo but it turns out it was possible on the way back down.  Each of the gates was dedicated by someone that paid for the privilege.  I don't know the exact count buy I'm sure a lot of money was raised.   Next we visited a Japanese rock garden, Tofuki-ji Temple .  While not terribly photogenic, it was nice seeing what one of these gardens was like.  Large rocks were strategically placed in rocks that had been raked with both straight lines and circles.  I'm not sure exactly how they accomplished this without leaving footprints but they did.  It was very peaceful but it was time to move on to lunch. We stopped at a dinner t...