Temples and Toilets

Posted by gregorybob on May 28, 2012

Japanese Squat Toilet

After experiencing toilets with so many features (including music), I was surprised to discover squat toilets in a few places. Not so cool as the others and certainly not so good for a guy with bad knees.

We are in our last two days of our visit to Japan. We had a fun-filled weekend with Sean and Makiko and Julian and spent the day on Sunday in Kyoto with Makiko’s parents whom we met once before when they came to Canada.

Greeting Makiko's parents in Kyoto

We traveled to Kyoto on Sunday by bus which took us about 90 minutes. Makiko’s parents met us in Kyoto which also took them about an hour of travel time from their home. We visited the Kiyomizu-dera temple which is high up on the side of thickly treed hills. There are so many temples in Japan but each offers something unique and beautiful. There were a lot of school children on school trips so it was a bit crowded but still fairly easy to see everything.

Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto

After walking around the temple grounds we stopped to get a drink of water. This is no ordinary water. Just by drinking it, you will live a long healthy life. I had a full glass and Marilyn had a half glass just to even out our age difference in our longevity. After visiting the temple, we all went to a beer gardens on top of a tower in Kyoto where we could eat and drink as much as we wanted. At some point we decided we didn’t need to do much more walking around.

Beer gardens high above Kyoto

All you can eat and drink high above Kyoto

We’ve been lucky to have Makiko and Sean as our guides. There is very little English spoken and even fewer English signs. With all the traveling and sites we could never have accomplished as much without their help.

On Saturday we learned about the Danjiri festival after visiting Kishiwada Castle and the Kishiwada Danjiri Museum. This festival involves a team pulling a special wagon through the streets at break-neck speed. The Danjiri is intricately carved with many images and is equipped with musical instruments which are played as the danjiri rolls through the streets. Guys on top jump around and desperately try to hold on to their balance. We got to see a video of it at the museum, saw many examples of the danjiri, and even got to play the instruments.

Playing the instruments on a danjiri

Danjiri scale model

Kishiwada Castle

Seeing the sites of Japan and learning some interesting things about the culture can still not compete with our time with family. Julian is such a doll and since he has stayed home from day-care, we’ve come to know him (and he us) which is not possible with skype calls. He loves to play games both inside and out and has kept us very very busy.

Playing road hockey

Playing volleyball

Almost everyone in Japan drives a smaller vehicle than we are used to seeing in Canada. It makes so much more sense environmentally but is also part necessity due to many narrow roads and small parking spaces at homes.

Making it fit

Marilyn and I also got to experience the Japanese ‘hot springs’ or baths as they are sometimes called. There is a ritual of sorts in the preparation for the spa and women and men are in separate areas. I had my area all to myself so I was able to take a couple of pictures.

Washing area before entering the hot springs

Inside spa (there was also an oudoor one)

The spa we went to was in a fishing village

We’ve done a lot of walking around Sean and Makiko’s neighbourhood as well. There are many small garden plats growing a variety of vegetables and also several rice paddies to see.

Rice paddy and garden

This chapel is also located just a few blocks over from Sean and Makiko’s house. It has been built by a private company called La Vienna and is used for those wishing to get married in a chapel.

Here’s a few more pictures I took on some of our walks and day-trips. The first one is of a temple which is surrounded with dolls deposited by various individuals. Apparently the dolls are seen to have spirits or souls and therefore brought to the temple. The dolls stay until there are too many dolls at which time they are blessed and then are removed making room for more to come.