JAPAN 17: return

Finally one day we wake up without an alarm clock! After making the backpacks we went to breakfast at a coffee Veloce as kings. It is a chain of cafes in Tokyo quite common, but also very expensive. We usually breakfasted based supermarket to save, but today decided to give us a little treat.
We returned to the hotel to get our luggage and walked to Ueno station. It took us a while to find the lockers of private line Keisei Main Line, since it is not properly in the JR Ueno station but one that is next called Keisei-Ueno. In lockers we were offered two options for the airport. There was a quick option, Keiser Skyliner, 2,400 yen and 45 minutes a slow but much cheaper option, Limited Express, but only 81 minutes 1,000 yen. As we were in time we opted for the cheap train. Arriving advantage to watch the airport shops (though not many) and do some shopping we were missing.
Unlike the way the plane was very full and we could not knock down. The trip was made ​​very heavy and cost much sleep. Too many emotions experienced! We arrived in Rome at the scheduled time. Too bad there made ​​us wait longer than expected and arrived in Barcelona with a time delay. The luggage was waiting us eternal and finally left the airport at one in the morning (although for us it was 8 am the next day). Luckily when I got home it was night and could sleep!

JAPAN 16: Kyoto III

In the morning we took it easy, we got up late and went to breakfast at a cafe Veloce, to change both breakfast supermarket. Then we went to the station and bought a City Bus All-day Pass. To get to Arashiyama we took the bus 28 and paid a small fee, as the bonus covers only those closest to the center of Kyoto areas.
Arashiyama is a far from ideal place to enjoy nature and landscapes Kyoto area, but also has interesting temples. One of the most beautiful is the Tenruy-ji, built in the thirteenth century as a farmhouse and later became a Buddhist temple. At the entrance we saw two of the features of the temple, beautiful buildings of wood and a little zen garden.

Tenryu-ji
Although the rooms of Tenryu-ji were not the most important temple, had some interest. The best was his zen garden outside, I could see from the terrace of the temple. It consists of a beautiful surrounded by maples and pines on one side and sand and rocks on the other pond. Its design was perfect, invited to sit for a while to savor quietly.

Tenryu-ji, inside

of Tenryu-ji Jadin
The garden could also be explored on foot, so we had to pay an entrance fee to the temple. We hiked a short trail network that ran between trees and fountains, even the most beautiful of all was the part of the pond that we had seen from the temple.

Tenryu-ji garden

Tenryu-ji garden
We left the garden of Tenryu-ji on its north door, which is right next to one of the most popular attractions of Arashiyama, bamboo forest of Sagano. It is a forest crossed by a pleasant promenade where some snapshots well known in Japan are made. On either side of the road lay a tangle of bamboos far as the eye can see. It is a magical place, shame that the path is very short, just 200 m.

Sagano bamboo forest

Sagano bamboo forest

Sagano bamboo forest
At once we reach the end of the road and got out of bamboo forest, but after passing through a residential area, went along another. This was not as nice as the previous one and was much frequented. In the middle of the bamboo forest was a small shrine Nonomiya, where we take to buy an amulet to protect our godson Guim. We returned to the main road to catch the bus back to Kyoto. While we waited we bought an ice cream at a super price of 180 yen.
We took the 11 bus to the center where we were walking around the shopping area. For lunch we enter a restaurant specializing in gyoza, a kind of typical Japanese dumpling. We ordered several units of gyoza, grilled and some other fried, accompanied by a kind of potato fritters. They were BUENISIMAS! Although that place the gyoza diners used to accompany the typical bowl of soba.

eating some gyoza
We took a bus back to Kyoto station, where we take to book the Hikari shinkansen to Tokyo that would catch a little later. We went to baggage claim to the hotel where we were on the public computers internet while looking to the time to catch the train. In two and a half hours we arrived at Tokyo Ueno Station. Before going to the hotel, we decided to dine at a post Kitasoba near the exit of the station. It was one of those elegies on a machine outside your plate and you gave a ticket to chefs serving you soon the dish was printed. It is a good and cheap way to fill the stomach, although it is assumed that the bowl of noodles peazo you'd have to eat in a few minutes, according to the rate of intake of the other diners ...

JAPAN 15: Koyasan and Osaka II

We read about visiting Koyasan contradictory in a day trip things. According Hyperdia, the train ride from Kyoto takes two and half hours, acceptable thing in one day. But at a conference we attended a few traveling on Japan considered it impossible, said it was very difficult to catch different trains and it took more than 5 hours! Our experience is that it is perfectly feasible whenever you get up early (we took the first train at 7:30 am). True, there are many different trains to catch, but if you know which are no problem. Since Kyoto the best combination is to take the JR Kyoto Line to Osaka (Umeda), then take the JR Loop Line to Shin-Inamiya where you have to switch to the Nankai Koya Line private line (not within the JR Pass). In that same season Koyasan World Heritage bought the Ticket for 2780 yen, further ticket round trip to Koyasan, includes unlimited use on local buses Koyasan and discounts on most of the temples. The Nankai Koya Line Gokurakubashi ends, where you must take a funicular that leaves on the mountain overlooking the valley of Koyasan. To lower the people need to take a bus, since it is forbidden to walk on the access road. In total it took 3 ½ hours to get to Koyasan, for the train to Shin-Inamiya us narrowly escaped and had to wait half an hour.

See Japan 15a: Koyasan & Osaka II in a larger map
The first monastery of Koyasan was founded in the early ninth century by Kukai, also known as Kobo Daishi. When the monk was young he went to China to study Buddhism. Legend says that Kukai wanted to found a temple in Japan, but did not know where, so from the China launched a "vajra" toward his country. Years later, while traveling around Japan looking for the ideal location for his temple, he found his vajra trapped in a pine tree in what would later Koyasan, where he founded the Shingon sect of Buddhism.

15b See Japan: Koyasan & Osaka II in a larger map
It was nearly 11pm when we reached the center of Koyasan, first we went to the tourist office, where we were provided with a booklet with very good information. Then we went to visit the first temple, the Kongobuji, one of the most important and beautiful of Koyasan. It was founded in the sixteenth century by the daimyo Toyotomi Hidetoshi in honor of his mother, although it was rebuilt in the nineteenth after being destroyed by fire. We entered the stadium for a beautiful wooden door, one of the few remaining original structures.

Kongobuji input
After flanking the door it started to rain, but we stopped to admire the beautiful buildings of wood we found. They seemed very old, and one of them had a magnificent relief of a dragon that seemed to come from the same temple.

Kongobuji
We went inside the temple, whose interiors were more beautiful if possible, than the facade that we had seen. There was a room would be decorated with beautiful paintings of the sixteenth century, showing herons and snowy pines. Then they made us into a huge room where we were treated to tea and biscuits, there was a monk who was talking animatedly with other visitors.

paintings in Kongobuji
Everything seen above would be far outweighed by the Banryutei, an amazing zen garden. It is relatively new, it was built less than 30 years ago, and some rocks represented by a pair of dragons emerging from clouds, represented by sand. The combination of rocks, sand, temples and trees was perfect! Without doubt, the best zen garden we saw in Japan. Another must!

Kongobuji road to Banryutei

Kongobuji, Banryutei

Kongobuji, Banryutei
With a good taste we headed towards the Danjo Garan, a sacred enclosure consisting of several buildings where Kuikai founded his first temple. The first thing we saw was the colorful Toto pagoda, built in the twelfth century but completely destroyed in a fire a few years ago and was rebuilt. Next to it is the Daie-do, a wooden building that looked very old, although it is a reconstruction of the nineteenth century. Opposite is the Fudo-do, the oldest temple in Koyasan (XII century).

Danjo Garan, with Toto pagoda right

Danjo Garan, Daie-do

Danjo Garan, Fudo-do
The building surprised us most was the Daito Konpon stupa, with its bright colors (similar to Toto pagoda, but on a larger scale). Inside you could not take pictures, too bad that the interior was very interesting: there was a big Buddha "nyorai" surrounded by four smaller Buddhas. The rest of the interior is beautifully decorated, especially the pillars with beautiful paintings.

Daito Konpon
In front of the stupa entered the Kondo, the old reading room of Kukai. It was built in the ninth century, but the current building is a reconstruction of the XX. The interior was much less spectacular than the Daito Konpon.

Kondo

Kondo, inside
Finally we went through the Fear, a small wooden building considered the most sacred because it is said that there lived Kukai. Opposite was two sacred pine (Sanko-no-matsu), which are said to be descendants of the tree that landed the vajra Kukai launched from China.
We left the area Danjo Garan and caught a bus (had to take the bonus!) To the door of Daimon. This is the gateway to Koyasan, built in the twelfth century and rebuilt in the XVII. Although it looked spectacular by far not worth much.

JAPAN 14: Hiroshima and Himeji

Before leaving Miyajima we could not resist to take a last look at the O-torii (yes, one more!), This time illuminated by the morning sun and covered with water. We went to the port where we caught the ferry JR about 9am, where we find hordes of tourists coming to the island soon. In Miyajimaguchi we took a train from JR Sanyo Line, which took half an hour to Hiroshima.

O-torii, Miyajima
The story of Hiroshima was marked so dismal on August 6, 1945 at 8:15 pm, when the atomic bomb fell on the city and its inhabitants. Hundreds of thousands died (even today the exact figure is not known) and most buildings were reduced to ashes. After another bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan surrendered in World War II. Despite all the horror lived, the people of Hiroshima soon began to rebuild their city, all except Genbaku Dome, which was left in ruins as a reminder of that tragic moment that killed so many Japanese.
In Hiroshima Station backpack and we headed to the tourist information office, where we were given a map and advised us to take tram 2 or 6 to reach the Memorial Peace Park, the main point of interest. This park is dedicated to the city that suffered the first nuclear attack in history and all its victims. First we visited we soon overcame, was the Genbaku Domu or Dome of the atomic bomb. This building is one of the few left standing despite being just 150 meters from the exact spot where the atomic bomb exploded. What was once a modern Industrial Promotion Hall, now stands as a ruined brick and metal testimony of that fateful day. For that reason it was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.

Genbaku Domu
Then we turn a little park to go to the hypocenter, the exact spot where the bomb exploded. In that place today Shima clinic, which had a plaque on the front where he explained the terrible event is raised. The feeling of being in that place was shocking for its symbolism, but there were no other explosion.
Then we cross the river Motoyasu to access the main area of ​​the Park Memorial Peace. It was a stark expanse of gardens, as they had the role that the various memorials dotted. One is the Genbaku no Ko no Zo, the Children's Peace Monument, which depicts a boy holding a origami. It is a reminder to Sadako Sasaki, a girl bomb victim who spent hours in the hospital doing these paper figures.

Genbaku no Ko no Zo
Another shocking sights of the park is the Memorial Cenotaph, a small structure in memory of all victims of the bomb. In a chest inside 77 volumes which are written the names of more than 200,000 registered victims are. In the Cenotaph we could only stay quiet and still as we watched the elegant monument, with the bottom Genbaku Domu.

Memorial Cenotaph
Then we went to the Memorial Museum for Peace, which ended the day by saddened by the terrible things that are explained and shown. However, we liked it very much for all that we learned from what happened before, during and after the atomic bomb. In this museum building there is an explanatory tour of the events that occurred in World War II, before the pump. We found it particularly interesting that explained some panels that Hiroshima was chosen: the city had not been bombed during the war and so could see more clearly the effect of the pump. Another reason was that the city had no camps Allied prisoners of war, who would die with the bomb. All explanations found very objective, the Japanese are not presented only as victims, but it assumed its share of blame for what happened. We were surprised to find a wall all the letters sent by the mayor of Hiroshima every time a country makes a nuclear weapons test, sign of commitment to this city for the elimination of such weapons worldwide.

photo of Hiroshima shortly after the atomic bomb explode
The enormous level of destruction that the city suffered clearly shows two models: one is shown in what the city before the bomb. In the other, as was then a large expanse of ashes where some ruins emerged as the Genbaku Domu.

model of Hiroshima before the bomb

model of Hiroshima after the bomb
After the exhibition we went to the main building, where the hardest and most striking images of those who "hurt the sensibilities of the people." Here the dramatic effects of radiation and burns on people, testimonies of survivors ... taught the stairs of a building where there was a dark spot is exhibited for example, was the silhouette of a person who had been there and that the bomb had vanished! All photos showed with not avoided any unpleasant detail, some were so hard we had to pass by without looking at them. If the previous building had already left us sad, that we ended up sinking.
At the end we were almost two hours in the museum, and it was well worth going quietly reading different informative panels. It was around noon so we took the tram to go eat at Okonomimura, a site that houses dozens of restaurants specializing in the same: the Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. The okonomiyaki is a dish consisting of a mass with various ingredients cooked on the grill. In Hiroshima a filled with udon or soba noodle variant is made, so they are stronger. We chose one of the restaurants (they all looked very similar) and ordered one with and one with soba udon. We sat at the bar and in front of us was the cook adding different ingredients to the okonomiyaki over an iron that took up the entire table. It was very good, but also enoooorme and we were stuffed!

JAPAN 13: Okayama and Miyajima

For this two day trip we decided to travel with a small luggage to travel light with just the basics. The rest is up to the reception, and we'd go back there tomorrow night for a couple of days. We started our journey by taking the Hikari shinkansen little after 8 h bound for Okayama, where we arrived after just over an hour. There we left the backpack in a locker for 300 yen, as we had to return to the station to continue our journey later.
Okayama has few tourist attractions, but one of them is first order: Korakuen, one of the top three gardens in Japan. It was built by the daimyo Ikeda Tsunamasa in the seventeenth century as a playground for your family and your guests. The other people had denied entry to the abolition of the feudal system following the Meiji restoration of the nineteenth century.
To get there we took a tram for 100 yen, as you walk the walk from the station was very long. We enter through the front door Korakuen after paying 400 yen each. The garden seemed very spacious with large lawn (perhaps too many), lakes with lotuses, wooded hills, houses ... I walked to the Sawa-no-ike, the largest lake garden, dotted with lovely islets . On the shore there was a small hill, Yuishinzan with a viewpoint that there was a spectacular garden view.

Sawa-no-ike, Korakuen

the bottom Yuishinzan, Korakuen

views from the Yuishinzan, Korakuen
Splashing Korakuen were some small buildings arranged in perfect harmony with the garden, adding even more charm. More typical were the teahouses as Enyo-tei, where he was received daimyo when visiting the garden. Another interesting site was the Ryuten, daimyo resting place, where there was a creek that ran through the building and got soaking feet.

Enyo-tei, Korakuen

Ryuten, Korakuen

Ryuten, Korakuen
We spent an hour visiting Korakuen and really liked it, although we believe that the Kanazawa far exceeds what. We went through the south gate and from the bridge Tsukimi took a look at the Okayama-jo, Okayama Castle. It was built in the seventeenth century, but following the bombings of the Second World War was almost destroyed. It's curious architecture of Japanese castles, palaces paints have more than anything else.

Okayama-jo
We took the tram to the station where we picked up our luggage backpack. We had to catch a shinkansen to Hiroshima, but that time passed many Nozomi, which fall outside the Japan Rail Pass. We had to wait half an hour for Sakura, so we took to get something to eat at the station. We got off at Hiroshima and took a local train on the JR Sanyo Line to Miyajimaguchi where ferries to Miyajima.
In Miyajimaguchi two ferry companies, JR Miyajima and Matsudai, but only the first is included in the Japan Rail Pass. There is also the option of taking ferries from the port or the Peace Park in Hiroshima, but they are very expensive and are not covered by the JR Pass. The ferry from JR was not very crowded, and the ride was fast. From the ferry had great views of the famous torii of Miyajima and Itsukushima temple.

Miyajima torii views from the ferry
We arrived at the port about 13:30 Miyajima and the first thing we did was go to our accommodation, Ryoso Kawaguchi, a very nice ryokan located in the town of Miyajima. We were not able to check-in as we had arrived before time, but we were able to leave the backpack. The lady who greeted us was very friendly, gave us a map of the island and informed us that the high tide would be at 8 o'clock in the evening. At that moment it was low tide, so the lady recommended we go see the torii before the tide started to walk to the same base.

13b See Japan: Okayama & Miyajima in a larger map
We had half a day to visit Miyajima wined so no more at the ryokan. That hour the people of Miyajima was a bustle of tourists strolling through its streets full of shops with all kinds of souvenirs. As in Nara, there also were many deer, and one of them had an accident: we sat down to rest in a place and we made recklessness walking away our Rough Guide. In an instant a deer came up and bit to try to eat it. We had to struggle with him to retrieve it, but fortunately the guide was not damaged (it was not ours ...).
The first visit we made to Miyajima was his most famous and visited place, O-torii. This gate was built in the ninth century, but the present structure is a reconstruction of the late nineteenth century. Both the torii and Itsukushima temple are declared world heritage by Unesco. As it was low tide, it was a good time to see the torii closely, we could walk to touch (on this website you can check the tide times).

O-torii, Miyajima
Up close, O-torii much more impressive from afar. We could see the shape of the trunks of wood construction, with its imperfections and textures. On the basis people had put coins in the cracks of the wood to make wishes. It was awesome to be at one of the most typical and well-known images from Japan.

JAPAN 12: Nara and Osaka I

In the eighth century, Nara was the first permanent capital was Japan. Previously the location of the capital was changed when the emperor died on duty, impractical thing to a centralized government. Recently she had adopted Buddhism as the official religion, so Nara was filled with Buddhist temples. The clergy began to accumulate power and meddling in state affairs. So the Emperor Kammu moved the capital to Kyoto in the late eighth to get away from the influence of the monks. The capital of Nara had only lasted 70 years, but they were a lot of temples that are a marvel.
About 8 o'clock in the morning we took the local train from JR Nara Line to Nara, the trip would take an hour. In the same station Nara had the tourist office, where a very nice lady gave us a map of Nara and informed us of the temples that we were not supposed to lose.

12b See Japan: Nara & Osaka I in a larger map
To get to the temples we walked down a long avenue works for about 15 minutes. Eventually we reached the large garden extension Nara-koen, where we found the first temple, Kofuku-ji. This temple was founded in the seventh century by the Fujiwara clan, which ruled Japan for centuries in the shadow of the emperors. The first thing we saw was the octagonal hall of the south, a small building in the ninth century rebuilt in the XVIII. Nearby were some booths where did goshuin. It was one of the few occasions where we could see the monk while writing kanji stamps and stamped our goshuin-cho. Most times are delivered to another site and did not see it

octagonal room south, Kofukuji

goshuin monk writing, Kofukuji
In this temple came to us a woman who offered us a free guided tour of the temple to practice English. He taught us the most representative buildings explaining its history. We pass next to the Chukon-do, the main building of the temple, we could not see because it is in works (it will be until 2018). The other important building Kofuku-ji is the five-story pagoda. It was built in the eighth century and is the second highest pagoda in Japan.

Five-storey pagoda, Kofukuji
Beside him was a small temple, Tokon-do National Treasure Museum, which houses a large collection of Buddha statues, where is. We did not go, but the guide showed us a dossier with photos of the most important sculptures. The truth is that we liked the explanations of the guide, it was quite a lucky find.
Located within the Kofuku-ji began to see one of the best known citizens of Nara: deer. There were many and were harmless, if there was no food in between ... There were some stalls where you could buy some cookies that the deer loved them. Tourists who bought those cookies were immediately surrounded by a scrum of deer that did not hesitate to use aggressive methods take with food. Deer are considered sacred, and until the seventeenth century his death was punished by the death penalty.

Deer Kofukuji
After crossing a large piece of Nara-koen come to the most important temple in Nara, Todai-ji. It was built in the eighth century to house a large sculpture of the Buddha to protect the population from natural disasters. We entered the stadium for the Nandai-mon, a door enclosing two gods fierce-looking guards.

Nandai-mon, Todai-ji
After paying the 500 yen entrance, we agreed to Daibutsuden, the building that houses the Great Buddha. We found huge, in fact until recently was the world's largest wooden building! And that the reconstructions had shrunk to a third of the original!

Daibutsuden, Todai-ji

Daibutsuden, Todai-ji
Inside was not difficult to find the statue of the Great Buddha or Daibutsu, as it was so big that it almost filled the entire inside. With its 15 m high, is the largest Buddha image in Japan. His size and his piercing eyes were stunning. Beside the Daibutsu, there were two smaller golden Buddha sculptures.

Daibutsu, Todai-ji

Daibutsu, Todai-ji

Daibutsu, Todai-ji
In one of the pillars of the building there was a hole near the ground; Legend says that whoever crosses is guaranteed a place in paradise, although the gap only allowed the passage of children and adults very thin ...
The next temple we visited was located on a hill, was the Nigatsu-do, although it really belongs to the temple of Todai-ji. It is not the most important temples in Nara, but worth a visit. One of his claims are the views of the terrace at the main building, but they were not very nice. In an adjacent room there was a place to rest enabled with tables, chairs, a machine for you and one that threw cold water, a luxury for that day so hot! Beside the Nigatsu-do is the Sangatsu-do, a small temple that has the honor of being the oldest building around Nara.

JAPAN 11: Kyoto II

After breakfast food based supermarket Lawson, we headed to the station to buy the Kyoto City Bus All-day Pass (500 yen). Yesterday we regret not having succeeded, since in more than two trips and is amortized. And that day we would leave more than paid! To get to the first temple of the day, Nanzen-ji took the bus 100 and then 5.
The first thing that impressed us was the great gateway two-story San-mon, built in the seventeenth century. In Nanzen-ji payment could visit inside the San-mon (q say there are great views from the second floor), the Hojo (main temple) and / or zen garden. We opted for the latter, known as the "Tiger Leap" because it represents three tigers (large rocks) and three puppies (small rocks) rodeaos water (sand). To us we did not find much, although I'm sure the fans will love the zen gardens.

Nanzen-ji

Nanzen-ji

Nanzen-ji zen garden
The Nanzen-ji is located south of Tetsugaku-no-michi or Path of Philosophy. It is so named because it was used by the philosopher Nishida Kitano while deep in thought. The trail runs along a canal and is surrounded by cherry trees. Even being nice, we expected a lot more for its popularity.

Tetsugaku-no-michi or Path of Philosophy

Tetsugaku-no-michi or Path of Philosophy
Along the Path of Philosophy there are several temples that you can visit. We chose the Honen-in, a small century temple surrounded by lush forests. The most curious of the temple were mounds of sand at the entrance that made Zen garden.

Honen-in
At the end of the Path of Philosophy, and after about feet reach the Ginkaku-ji. It was built in the fifteenth century as a farmhouse Yoshimasa Ashikaga shogun for, but later became a Zen Buddhist temple. The "Silver Pavilion" owes its name to the ambition of the shogun overcoating of this precious metal, but it was never carried out.

Ginkaku-ji
As in other temples of Kyoto, the interesting thing is Ginkaku-ji gardens or the combination of them and temples, rather than the importance of the buildings. The first thing that surprised us was entering his Zen garden, a large expanse of sand smoothed granite. On the right we could see the Silver Pavilion, a small wooden building with two floors located on the shore of a pond. It was a picture postcard scenery, a fabulous show. This temple was more like we had that day and would become one of our favorites from our trip to Japan.