A short trip to Japan - Hokkaido

[Daver6]

So I got a taxi back to the station and had a Frappuccino at Starbucks - go on, judge me .

I'm not sure what I judge you more for. That or lowering your accommodation standards to share a yurt with @JohnM

 

[trendwhore]

After a badly needed shower, I ventured back into the station concourse to see what shops were there and to get some more cash, which was no problem with my Wise card.

I checked out the 7/11 and was thrilled to see my favourite - a tofu bar

View attachment 387707

Can't speak for the tofu bar but don't sleep on those Chicken "bars". They're pretty good actually haha

 

[RooFlyer]

Sunday, and i woke a couple of times during the night with an aching big toe. Not a great portent for the visit to Nara today!

I'm off fairly early, to navigate the ticket machine at the subway station that's also right next to the hotel. No problemo and Google Maps has my route - I change a few stops down the line onto the Kintetsu-Nara line for an express to Nara.



I'll turn to Wikipedia for the potted early history of Nara

By decree of an edict on March 11, 708 AD, Empress Genmei ordered the court to relocate to the new capital, Nara. Once known as Heijō or Heijō-kyō, the city was established as Japan's first permanent capital in 710 CE; it was the seat of government until 784 CE, albeit with a five-year interruption, lasting from 741 to 745 CE. Heijō, as the ‘penultimate court’, however, was abandoned by the order of Emperor Kammu in 784 CE in favor of the temporary site of Nagaoka, and then Heian-kyō (Kyoto) which retained the status of capital for 1,100 years, until the Meiji Emperor made the final move to Edo (Tokyo) in 1869 CE.

Most of the old sights to see are in Nara Park, on the eastern edge of the city. Kintetsu-Nara station is only a hundred metres or so from the edge of the park. The park is very lush and green, contrasting to this image.



I made my way east along the road, past the Nara National Museum on my right (that was a mistake - see later) and turned left, heading for the daibutsu, otherwise known as da big Buddha and marked as Todai-ji on the image above.

Nara Park is famous for its sacred deer and I was wondering if I'd see any. Yep, tick that one off.





The deer and their cough are everywhere. Completely tame, easily petted and biscuits are sold to feed to them.

This, in spite of the fact that no fawnication is allowed.



Yet there was fawnication everywhere on site.



The above is approaching the Nandai-mon, or Great South Gate. The original was built in the 'Nara period' (8th century), but was blown down in a typhoon, so this one dates from 1200.

The gate with its double hip-and-gable roof is five bays wide and two bays deep. Originally there were three pairs of doors. The eighteen giant pillars that support the roof measure twenty-one meters and the entire structure rises 25.46 meters above the stone plinth on which it rests. The Great South Gate is the largest temple entrance gate in Japan, suitable in scale to the Great Buddha Hall.






The gate houses two fierce Ni-ō (guardians), unfortunately behind some bird-proof wire.

 

[Daver6]

Venison for dinner?

 

[RooFlyer]

Venison for dinner?

Probably not

The aim of this walk was the Tōdai-ji temple, with the Daibutsu-den, or Great Buddah Hall the great structure to see.

The Great Buddha Hall is the Main Hall (kondō) of Tōdai-ji. Built first in the Nara period it has been destroyed twice by fire in 1180 and again in 1567. The present structure, dating to the Edo period, [c 1709] was built under the direction of the monk Kōkei. The original hall and the one rebuilt in 1195, were both eleven bays wide; the present structure, however, was reduced in size to seven bays because only limited funds were available. Nevertheless, the height and depth of the structure remain the same as those of the original. The Great Buddha Hall is the largest wooden structure in the world.

Check out the size of people at the base. Its one of the world's largest all-wooden structures.





Inside, the vast hall is dominated by the Vairocana Buddha (Daibutsu).

The Daibutsu is properly known as Vairocana Buddha, the Buddha the light of whose knowledge and compassion illumines widely. Śākyamuni, the Historical Buddha, who was born in the city of Kapilavastu in India sometime around 580 B.C.E., became a mendicant at the age of twenty-nine and after spending six years practicing austerities eventually gained great religious insight at the foot of the Bodhi Tree on the banks of the Nairanjana River. The Avatam.saka Sutra (Kegon-kyō) describes the moment of Śākyamuni’s enlightenment as his achievement of the condition of a Buddha who transcends both space and time. It describes the world of Vairocana as magnificent, virtuous and grand and embellished by the various accomplishments of the bodhisattvas. According to the text, the songs of birds, the colors of flowers, the flowing of water and the forms of clouds are all part of Vairocana’s teachings to save all living things.
On the lotus petals on the base of the Great Buddha are engravings of the World of the Lotus Treasury (Rengezō sekai), pictorial representations of the “world of enlightenment” described in the sutra. They are beautiful representations of the notion that each individual is not an isolated existence, but that all phenomena have limitless connections and dimensions and that the entire universe is enveloped in the light of Vairocana’s wisdom.

The statue is one of the largest bonze statues in the world, 16m high and weighing 437 tonnes of bronze and 130kg of gold. It was unveiled in 752, 200 years after Buddhism came to Japan.











To the left is Kokuuzo Bosatsu, the deity of memory and wisdom, prayed to by students!

 

[RooFlyer]

Some scary dudes guarding the place





In another thread I labelled this one "RooFlyer's upgrade didn't come through" . Its actually Tamonten (Lord who hears all).



If you climb through this hole in a pillar, you will find enlightenment. I didn't fit.



After the Todai-ji, I headed further up the hill, passing this, an ashkoa pillar, related to India, but I'm not sure how.





Cute. There was one better situated and also cute, but it proceeded to have quite a voluminous p!ss on the steps and it sort of spoiled the effect.



A bell tower



At the top, Nigatsu-do. I didn't go up, as I was fed up with stairs by this time.

 

[RooFlyer]

This is Hokke-do, (or Todai-ji Hokkedo) the oldest building in the complex, dating from the mid 700s ('Nara period'). The carvings are all from the same time.






Todai-ji Hokkedo Kyoko, a nearby shrine. I was intrigued by the 'choc and log' construction. We see (much poorer!) examples in colonial Australian buildings.



I wanted to walk out to Kasuga-taisha, the principle shrine at Nara, but by this time it was just too far at about a km more (and added to the return distance) - my toe was aching again so it was time to head back.

Quick bathroom break - even the public loos have all the trimmings! If, like every other public toilet I've been to here, no soap at the wash basin (one exception to that) and no way to dry hands.





I think this is a wisteria? I thought they would be in bloom now, but no. Would be very pretty if it was.



Some more views of the Daibutsu building and the Nandai-mon





And the crowds really pouring in, late Sunday morning.



I had intended to visit the main museum on my way back, but the queue, 3-4 abreast, stretched down past the end of the building. Should have done it on my way in; I passed.

 

[RooFlyer]

There were a couple more sites from the Nara period I wanted to see, but they were on the way back to the station, so no drama.

Collectively Kofuku-ji temple commenced in 710 by the Fujiwara clan, then one of the most powerful noble families in Japan. The biggest structure is Chukondo (Central Golden Hall). Once one of the more important halls, it burned down for the seventh time in 1717 and was only re-built as #8 in 2018.



Next to is is the Five Story Pagoda, the second tallest in Japan. Burned down five times since first built in 730, this 1426 version is being renovated until 2031.



The Southern Round Hall and the Northern Round Hall. I think the northern one is close to original.







And this little beauty, the Three Storey Pagoda, dating from 1181.

 

[rbjhan]

Damn! Nigatsudo was my favourite part of Nara....can't believe you didn't go!

 

[rbjhan]

If I'm going to Nara again I'd be taking the Aoniyoshi train...

 

[Seat0B]

Your photos continue to be amazing @RooFlyer. Im travelling along with you. We’ve just booked Sapporo for the Ice Festival in Feb 2025. So I’m very interested in your Hokkaido experiences as we haven’t been there since 2010.

 

[RooFlyer]

A 5.8 earthquake off the north Coast of Central Japan this morning. Got woken up at 6:30am by a screaming alert from my earthquake app on my phone. "shaking expected soon." . Lucky it was just the tiniest of wobbles, that I might’ve even imagined. Immersive Japan experience!

Also a check-in reminder from JAL this morning. Entirely in Japanese and with no English option. It was images so Google Translate couldn’t do anything with it. A bit surprised about no English especially as the pictures were about security and prohibited items, etc.

 

[RooFlyer]

Damn! Nigatsudo was my favourite part of Nara....can't believe you didn't go!

If you had my arthritic feet, you'd believe it! Every step feels like walking on a bruise, or an occasional jab of pain, and I did 18,000 of the suckers yesterday.

At the Kofuku-ji temple precinct, I visited the National Treasure Hall (Kofuku-ji Kokuhokan I think). A modern building with a large collection of mainly wooden carvings/figures from the Nara period (700s) 'National Treasures', and a written scroll I think from the same period. Amazing, but like most museums of this type, no photographs.

My usual souvenir of a trip is a book about the best art/museums etc and these are the only times I go for the 'merch'. Terribly disappointed - there was just one book that was about the collection, and only in Japanese. I was prepared to buy it, but even with a translator, it really didn't give me the experience I wanted back home. So I bought some postcards and photographed them







You can also see and read more about them on the website National Treasure Hall - KOHFUKUJI Temple

I hauled my cough back to the train and my hotel and collapsed for a while, had a bath.

Then went down to reception to enquire about the bus to ITM airport tomorrow, which I knew was close to Shin-Osaka (the bus stop). The young bloke at reception produced a sheet (all Japanese) with the schedule and some 'stylized' maps and confessed he couldn't tell where the bus stop was. Google maps to the rescue, and with Street View was easy to see the location, right outside the other side of the station. I went for a recce to make sure - yep, won't be a problem.

Going down to the street level of the station took me through the lower level of the station (no transport functions) - there's a whole other universe down there!! Endless restaurants and take-aways, so I chose one to come back to later. I mean, what's not to like? The model is about 40cm long



I did go back there and it was a funny experience. The spaghetti with shredded beef etc was delicious, but the people were almost unwelcoming. Very curt, never a smile, not even with my couple of Japanese phrases, which I think aren't bad by now. Maybe it was a locals hideaway.

But there was Sapporo on tap at every place (pour yourself), so it was good to eat there, as you can see.

 

[RooFlyer]

I see that I'm mentioning 'no English' quite a few times. Should explain that its not a complaint, just surprise when sometimes it would be in the writer's interest to have it understood by non-Japanese speakers. Like the JAL check-in reminder.

On the 'limousine bus' this morning, 30 mins to ITM, 510 yen. Checked-in on a machine no problem for my flight to Sapporo CTS; security very light (walked straight up to the belt) and am now in the JAL 'Diamond premium lounge' for 'First Class and Oneworld Emerald' etc. ITM is domestic flights only and I suspect this space is a hang-over when ITM (presumably) had international flights. Not a First Class lounge in its offerings.









The rice balls and Japanese green vegetable drink are about the highlights.



Flight to CTS delayed by 25 mins. I'll have another green drink.

 

[ric_melb]

Enjoying your current trip report RooFlyer. Good photos, good observations, plus some interesting history. Wish you safe and enjoyable travel.

 

[rbjhan]

Looking forward to Hokkaido in June!

 

[RooFlyer]

The flight to Sapporo was delayed by 30 minutes, which was no big deal except it would shorten my time driving up to my hotel tonight.

boarding was efficient, as one would expect.



Seat on the E190 was good. Not many in business where I was on a QF CR , sort of thank goodness, as I was soon to learn a lesson the hard way.





The hard lesson was that JAL do not serve anything in business except for a cup of juice. I got the juice soon after lights off and then waited patiently for lunch which never came.

That's ITM below



One of the large lakes



Coming into CTS



Flighty shows the route and flight timings.

 

[Seat0B]

I haven’t done much internal flying in Japan so it’s good to know about lack of service in JAL business.

 

[RooFlyer]

I booked a Toyota rental, thanks to advice to several here. A bit of faffing about at the terminal, then a bus to the depot and a very elaborate routine to get the keys. But they were well organised! I had a list of questions about Toll gizmo, insurances, how, when etc, emergency/accident numbers, basic road rules, fuel types and how to ID. Every one of these was addressed on printed sheets, carefully explaining insurances available and all the things I wanted to know. Took a while, but I felt I had more knowledge about 'what ifs' than many rentals I have made!

Only fault is the built-in GPS. To enter an address, you enter the phone number, but if no number (such as a lookout, or a place rno #), you have to enter the address in Japanese. I certainly wanted to mark lookouts etc, so I plugged in my phone and put my Google Maps on the screen. I have a data plan - oh, and also Maps.me which works offline and has very detailed maps. Must give that a go tomorrow.

So off I choofed, heading for the La Vista at Daisetsu National Part, under Mt Asahi-dake, the tallest mountain in Hokkaido.



I had given myself the option of visiting a winery at Furano and the 'Patchwork way' outside of Biei on the way, but the late aircraft arrival and the fact that it was a dull and overcast day meant I gave them a miss. I will hopefully be able to do the Patchwork Way tomorrow.

Much lush green mountains almost the whole way, except for the valley around Furano which has vast areas under cultivation. Roads good, including toll roads, but some very puzzling speed limits. 70 on a dual lane, divided highway, 50 through much of the countryside, 40 in other places. Again, following advice here, I travelled at the speed of others, usually 20-30km/h above the posted speed limit. Strange thing is, the estimated time by Google Maps didn't decrease - they usually calculate at the speed limits, or traffic conditions. Maybe they ignore the speed limits too

Only a couple of stops and pics on the way. Gotta love a smoking mountain.



First look at Asahi-dake. The hotel is below the far distant tree line, in line with the smoking.



La Vista Daisetsu, part of the Dormy Hotels group. Inside very much a 'country lodge' vibe. Old place, but comfortable.



Mr room, on the 4th floor. Nice, comfy western style beds!! The price was 40,500 yen, A$387, including a 'gastronomic' Japanese dinner, and breakfast tomorrow. The meals I'm guessing would possibly $150-$180, so not bad, I think.







And terrific vies of Ashai-dake from my room. The weather has fined up and hopefully will remain, as I'm intending to take the cable car up there tomorrow.

 

[RooFlyer]

Dinner. I had forgotten exactly what I'd signed up for, but it was an experience.

Menu



I had a table by the window, which was good, as in the reflection I could see waiters approaching and I could make sure I wasn't having a sloppy or awkward chopsticks moment!

First up - it roughly followed the order of the printed menu, but not exactly, which was a bit confusing



Very local beer



Teppenyaki. Cover comes off the table to reveal a grill and you do your own.



I passed on the lambs tongue! but the rest went on the grill.





Then the casserole. This didn't work for me, maybe I did it wrong, but they brought out a pot of broth and put it on the hotplate, where it boils, then you add, progressively, chicken ball, the fish, set of crabs legs (!!), mushrooms, veges, egg, noodles and chives. I didn't have any control over the heat and I guess I left everything in a bit long, as it turned out gluggy. But one item was a ball of ground chicken, and I definitely wanted that cooked properly!







And dessert.



An excellent meal. After dinner - onsens!