Japan '08: Kyoto I

Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. Mac OS X includes a nearly identical shot as a desktop image.

We arrived in Kyoto from Nara in the early evening, and after hunting around for a place to eat for a fair amount of time, settled on a Chinese restaurant near Kyoto Tower, across the street from the station. It was OK-ish: one of my few regrets from the trip was that we never got to sample much in the way of genuine Kansai cuisine, which seems to be generally regarded as superior to the vittles available in the Tokyo area. After supper, we got a cab to our ryokan in the Higashiyama (Eastern Mountains) part of town.

Kyoto Tower from Kyoto Station.

The next morning, we took a cab back to the center of the city, and dropped in at the tourist office in Kyoto Station. The available guided tours looked a bit rushed and limited, so we opted for all-day bus passes, a bargain at 500 yen. Actually, just hailing cabs would have been a convenient and reasonably cost-effective way to get around Kyoto too, split three ways. It was easy enough to navigate using buses and the bilingual map from the tourist office, though. There are even three lines that specialize in covering the major sightseeing areas, called Raku Buses.

On the bus in Kyoto.

Kara-mon gate at Nijo Castle.

Our first major stop was Nijou-jou (Nijou Castle), which was constructed over the period of 1601 to 1626 by the early Tokugawa Shoguns. It's in the center of town, north of Kyoto Station. One can tour the outer palace, Ninomaru (visible behind me in the photo above), and contemplate its ancient wall paintings, but photography was prohibited indoors. Ninomaru Palace has uguisu-bari, or nightingale floors, which are designed to squeak when trod upon, as a security measure.

Chrysanthemum exhibit at Nijou Castle.

Cycas revoluta (Sago Palm) in the Nijou Castle gardens.

The Ninomaru Palace gardens are nice, with impressive ponds and rock features. It's warm enough in Kyoto for Sago Palms to survive outdoors.

Inner walls of Nijou Castle.

Nijou Castle has a second ring of moats and walls inside of it, surrounding a smaller complex of buildings, Honmaru Palace. You can't tour inside of Honmaru.

Nijou's Honmaru Palace, from the top of the inner walls.

The Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum) were just starting to change color, in mid-October, but it had been an unusually warm autumn. A few seeds managed to find their way into my luggage somehow, and I have some nice little Nijou-jou maple seedlings coming along now, back in the US.

Road to Kinkaku-ji

After refreshing ourselves with Fanta melon soda from one of those old vending machines that mix soda water and syrup in a paper cup, it was back to the bus stop to catch a ride to the northwestern corner of the city, and Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion. The Buddhist temple complex and the pavilion are officially called Rokuon-ji, but everyone seems to refer to the place as Kinkaku-ji. The original version of the temple dates to 1397, but it has been rebuilt after fires several times, most recently in 1950. The gardens surrounding Kinkaku-ji have remained more or less intact over the centuries.

Gardens outside of the Kinkaku-ji abbot's chamber.

The landscapes around temples and shrines look naturalistic, but they require heroic efforts to maintain. There were gardeners working everywhere at the places I visited in Kyoto. Note the guy pruning the pine in the photo above.

Kinkaku-ji, from across Kyouko-chi pond.

Kinkaku-ji is pretty much the most photogenic object ever created by human hands, and the crowds jockeying for position at good vantage points were overwhelming. It took a fair amount of patience and effort to get photographs like these, without dozens of people in them, though the gardens are arranged to mostly conceal visitors on the other side of the pavilion.

Next time, I'll write about some of the sights in eastern Kyoto.

Japan '08: Nara

Street near Nara Park.

About midway through my group's time in Japan, we activated our Japan Rail Passes, used the passes to reserve tickets on the shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto and back, and headed west to the Kansai region. The ryokan where we were staying in Tokyo kindly offered to store the bulk of our luggage, so we weren't dragging around 50 pound suitcases of loot from Akihabara. Our first activity was a day trip to Nara, which was the capital of Japan from 710 to 784. Nara wasn't torched in WWII, and you can't throw a rock there without hitting a national cultural treasure or UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Rice fields from the train between Kyoto and Nara.

We got to Kyoto Station about as early as could be expected, for a vacation, and then took the JR Nara Line to Nara Station. The scenery between the two cities is fairly bucolic, with groves of bamboo and rice fields in the middle of harvest. The yellow flowers at the edge of the field in the photo are some goldenrod or other (Solidago sp.), a beloved native wildflower here in New England, and invasive pest in the Far East, apparently. Consider it payback for Kudzu.

My friend Ray was feeling seriously under the weather when we arrived at Nara, but decided to keep going, and managed to soldier through. Many of the famous sights in the city are located in Nara Park, to the east of the station. Considering Ray's delicate condition, we decided to take a taxi to the far side of the park, then work our way down hill, back to the station.

Looking west over Nara from Nigatsu-dou.

Yours truly in front of Nigatsu-dou.

The taxi driver suggested that we start in the Nigatsu-dou ("Second Month Hall") area of the Toudai-ji ("Great Eastern Temple") Buddhist temple complex, and was even nice enough to show us around a little bit. Nigatsu-dou is high up on a hill, with a good view of the city from a balcony that you can walk around. There were student tour groups everywhere in Nara and Kyoto; I don't know if it's always like that or if they only come out at certain times of the year. Some of the kids had an assignment to approach a foreigner and find out about his or her stay in Japan, in English, so Sujith and I (not so much Ray) were waylaid several times a day and asked: "Where are you from?," "What is your favorite Japanese food?," and a couple of other simple questions.

Hand washing fountain to the side of Nigatsu-dou. It was shady and cool in this area, and there was a quiet room where you could take a break and have some tea.

Sangatsu-dou / Hokkei-dou.

Sangatsu-dou ("Third Month Hall," also known as Hokkei-dou) is just next door to Nigatsu-dou. It is the oldest structure in the Todai-ji complex, built around 740-747 CE. For a small fee (around $5), we entered the hall to see the collection of Buddhist statuary inside, much of which also dated to the 8th Century. No interior photography was allowed, I think primarily to protect the ancient paint on some of the statues from harsh light from flashes.

Stairs in Nara Park, between Sangatsu-dou and Toudai-ji Temple.

Shop selling shika senbei (deer crackers) in Nara Park.

Nara Park is crawling with deer, which are semi-tame (they're mostly blasé about people, but don't seem to appreciate close contact) after many centuries of protected status. The deer aren't confined in any way, and meander out into the city to some extent. There was one, which I really wish I had gotten a decent photo of, standing at a bus stop with a bunch of people like a commuter. Concession stands all over the park sell special deer crackers, and usually have a few hungry deer hanging around.

Toudai-ji Temple: Daibutsu-den ("Great Buddha Hall").

The present Todai-ji is gigantic, and supposedly the largest wooden building in the world, but it is still only a 2:3 scale reproduction of a larger edifice first completed in 752. The present incarnation of Toudai-ji dates from 1709. The chairs in front of the building were being set up for a concert; the Buddhist sect that built Toudai-ji is now extinct, and the complex is now to a certain extent given over to secular purposes.

Daibutsu, the Great Buddha (main body and options*).

Inside of the big hall is the 500 ton brass Daibutsu. It's hard to get a sense of the scale of the Daibutsu from photos: it's bigger than it looks.

After checking out Todai-ji, we wandered back out into the city, and took a bus back to the train station for the return trip to Kyoto and our ryokan. The Nara segment of my Japan adventure was definitely rushed, and I would like to return at some point to see more of the sights, particularly Kasuga Shrine and its associated gardens.

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*Joke stolen from Lucky Star.

Legit Kannagi, too

It's been an interesting month for US licensing announcements. An official English-language Kannagi website has been up and running since May, and I expected that a release was in the works, but I did not expect a ninja release with the first DVD available the same day as the announcement (through Amazon, with Right Stuf getting in on the action tomorrow). After all of the reorganizations, cancellations and wobbly schedules from American anime companies in recent years, color me impressed.

Kannagi is probably the second best TV anime from 2008; it's very much a bishoujo (pretty girls) genre piece, but handled with more humor and sensitivity to character development than is typical. I wonder when we'll see 2008's show of the year, Toradora, in the US? There are vague indications that Funimation will pick that one up, but nothing definite yet.

Higurashi Sound Novels, in English, Legit

Manga Gamer has announced that they will be bringing the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (Higurashi - When They Cry) games to English-speaking audiences this fall. The announcement is pretty bare-bones, but I think it's safe to assume they mean the original doujin soft sound novels for Windows, and not the PS2 or DS ports, or for that matter, one of the various incarnations of the Higurashi: Daybreak fighting game. Today's announcement was as follows...

We proudly anouce that we have started the localozation of 'Higurashi when they cry'. We have been getting a lot of requests from MangaGamer's fans to localize the title. We are very excited and happy to be able to relaese this best seller title from MangaGamer.com.

We target to release the title by the end of October. Please stay close with our release schedule.

What a pleasant Independence Day surprise!

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Update: Anime News Network has more details, based on official word from Manga Gamer at Anime Expo. The first four chapters (the question arcs) are what is coming in October, with the next four chapters (the original answer arcs) to be released about two months later.

Also, I've added photos of the Japanese discs for the original eight chapters.

20th Century Boys, NY Premiere

I got down to the big city this past Sunday to catch the New York premiere of the first two chapters of a planned trilogy of live-action 20th Century Boys films. The movies were shown as part of the New York Asian Film Festival, at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village. It's an involved process for me to get to lower Manhattan, but 20th Century Boys was well worth the trip: the movies were fantastic. The first chapter, especially, was riveting; the 2.5 hour run time flew by. The second film was a bit slower, and rapidly multiplying plot threads came dangerously close to causing the whole thing to come apart at the seams, but it still managed to entertain while setting up a third chapter that is going to be epic. Part 3 comes out in Japan in August, and the IFC people promised to try to bring it over as quickly as possible.

New York area fans who missed the first showing of the 20th Century Boys double feature will have another chance next month. There will be a repeat performance at the Japan Society on July 4, with complimentary food and beer during the intermission. The films are eminently worthwhile: Naoki Urasawa's sprawling tale of reluctant heroes, evils cults bent on world domination, pop nostalgia, and persistent childhood traumas has received an adaptation that does the original justice. You simply will not see better summer movies than these this year.

Japan '08: Tokyo Miscellany

In this post, I'm going to cover a few odds and ends from my time around Tokyo. Next time, I'll leave the Kanto region and start delving into Nara and Kyoto.

This run down apartment building was just across the street from the first Ryokan where I stayed, in Hongou. It looks like classic Bohemian student housing. The architecture in residential areas in Japan seems to be much more heterogeneous on average than it is in the US; neighboring houses frequently vary widely in vintage, materials and style.

Here's me at a kaiten-zushi (rotating sushi) joint near the University of Tokyo in Hongou. I wasn't bold enough to place special orders, and just sampled what was going by on the conveyor belt. The plates are color-coded by price, and tea is self service via hot water taps and a tin of powered ocha with a measuring scoop. The other important culinary establishment in Hongou was Hotto Motto, a fast food chain where the bentou (lunch box) style food was hot, cheap, and surprisingly tasty.

I didn't spend as much time in Ikebukuro as I might have, just a quick visit near the beginning of the trip. I made a quick dash through the Tora no Ana branch there, then headed to Cinema Sunshine to watch the Gurren Lagann: Guren-hen movie, which was fantastic, though it was pretty much just a straightforward compilation of the first half of the TV series, except for its final 15 minutes. Fellow traveler Sujith went to see Hokuto no Ken: Zero, which was playing at the same theater, while Ray continued doujinshi shopping at Tora no Ana.

The most convenient way to get into the JR train system when I was staying in Hongou was to head to Ochanomizu, which is between Hongou and Akihabara. Here is one of a pair of picturesque bridges over the Kanda River, viewed from the Ochanomizu JR station.

Here's the view of the river and JR station from the western bridge, looking east. The brightly lit buildings on the horizon are in Akihabara, I believe. I saw this scene many times, transferring between trains after late nights in Akiba.

One of the best meals I had in Japan was in Ochanomizu, at an izakaya (traditional eatery and drinking establishment) called Kanda Wadatsumi. The sashimi was excellent, and we tried out some other odds and ends, too, like oden. A few items were above my Japanese cuisine rating, such as a grayish paste--I can't recall the name--apparently crab-based and meant to accompany drinks, but overall the American contingent made a good showing at the table. R-san gets the credit for recommending Kanda, and also kindly pointing us in the direction of one of her favorite brands of sake, Hakkaisan, which it turns out is available in the US. I recently picked up a bottle at the Mitsuwa shopping center in Jersey.

While waiting for the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Kyoto, I picked up a Tokyo Station bentou. Shinkansen stations each offer their own lunch boxes, made with local, seasonal foods. As prepackaged chow goes, it was awfully good.