Letter from Japan

(text in JPN, ENG)

Konpira temple

今回は10月下旬の連休を利用して、久々に日本へ一時帰国しました。最初の3日間は横浜の自宅で、残りの4日間は四国旅行です。10月下旬の日本は多少寒かったですが、久々の日本を満喫してきました。

行きはUnited便でしたが、何もないはずがなく、ﾒｷｼｺｼﾃｨ～ｻﾝﾌﾗﾝｼｽｺ便の大幅な遅れにより、ｻﾝﾌﾗﾝｼｽｺ～成田便はラッキーな事にANA便へ変更。機内にのった瞬間から安心感が違います。
さすがにANAは機内食もおいしいですね。ハンガリー風のビーフシチューなるものが出てきました。ハンガリーにこんな料理はありませんが、ハンガリー風かと言われれば、多少パプリカが利いているので、そうだったかもしれません。とにかくおいしかったのは事実。旦那は日本食についていたそばを食べて大満足のようでした。

日本についた初日は近くに住んでいる妹夫婦とイタリアンでおいしいピザを堪能。甥っ子はすでに4歳になりました。最後に見た3歳未満時点に比べペチャペチャしゃべっていました！

翌日より横浜や新宿で必要物資の調達を行いました。
久々の日本は、見るものが全て新鮮に移ります。
思わず記念撮影。
地下鉄がこんなに小さいと感じたのは初めてだし、１車線の道路がこんなにも狭く、珍しく感じたのは初めてかもしれません。人々はみんなロボットみたいに、統制された動きをします。まるで街自体が大きな歯車にコントロールされている大きな工場のように感じられます。
店に入ると、店員がかしこまってお辞儀をします。「ぃらっさいませ～」と発声します。まるで精密なロボットです。これも海外から帰ってくると、非常に珍しく映ります。アメリカでもﾒｷｼｺでも店員はだいたい携帯電話で遊んでいるか、他の店員とおしゃべりしています。

当たり前の話ですが、どこを見ても日本人の顔が大半を占めるというのも、大変珍しく感じられます。
電車に乗っていると、おばさんが至近距離まで寄ってきます。まるで何か小動物が誤って近づいてきたような印象です。
全体的にゴミゴミとしていていて、実はすべてが小さくて繊細で清潔です。
日本には日本のスタンダードとスタイルがあり、それはとても独特で、欧米や諸外国のそれとは明らかに違うという事を再認識させられました。

４日目から徳島へ移動し、祖先の墓参りと、旦那の叔父さん夫婦へ挨拶をした後、愛媛県は道後温泉へ。
道後温泉は日本最古の温泉という事で、前々から興味がありましたが、無色透明なアルカリ泉に、千と千尋の神隠しのモデルになったとされる雰囲気のある建屋もさる事ながら、中の雰囲気も歴史を感じさせる内容で、温泉好きをうならせるのも納得という印象です。
どちらかと言うと、私たち夫婦は硫黄臭が漂うようなワイルドで、いかにも効きますみたいな温泉が好きなので、ちょっと趣味とは違いますが、温泉街にあったお店でいただいた名物の鯛飯とお寿司が大変おいしかったです。

道後温泉の後は、徳島県は大歩危小歩危という秘境へ。大股で歩いても、小股で歩いても危険という意味だとか。中股で普通に歩くのがベストという意味ですかね。
さっそく大歩危の船着場より、川くだりを実施。こんなに寒いのに靴を脱いで船に乗るとは思いませんでした。川の水は非常に透明度が高く、野生の鯉が生息しています。とんびや鵜もいました。この時期は寒いので、今度は夏にでも来るのが良いかもしれません。
その後、祖谷のかずら橋という場所へ、平家が落ち延びた際に、追われたら、いつでも切り落として逃げれるように、つたで作った橋です。そこで名物祖谷蕎麦なるものを食べたのですが、コレがびっくりするくらいユニーク。山の中で食べる蕎麦でありながら香りが薄く、ふにゃふにゃです。こういう蕎麦を好む人もいるのでしょうね。

翌日は、しあわせ参りで有名な香川県にあるこんぴら山へ。
直前に、「やまうち」といううどん屋で腹ごしらえ。いかにも、地元の製麺所という構えで、うどん自体より高いかぼちゃの天ぷらが抜群においしかったです。旦那はこういった店に来るのが夢だったみたいでしたが、どうも味に違いが感じられなかったようで、食べた後は残念そうにしていました。
こんぴら山は階段をたくさん登ります。本宮まで全部で785段あるそうです。うどんを食べておいて良かったです。
かつてこんぴら山にお参りしたいが、出来ないので、犬を代わりによこすおおちゃくものがいたそうで、そのけなげな犬が神格化されています。階段をたくさん登っただけあり、景色がとてもきれいです。




短かった一時帰国も終わり、翌日は徳島空港より、羽田へ、羽田から成田へ、成田からヒューストン、そしてﾒｷｼｺｼﾃｨという、とんでもない長旅（全て同日中）を経て、無事帰ってきました。旦那は、帰国後2,3日ｱﾚﾙｷﾞｰ性のぶつぶつが出来ていたので、多分ﾒｷｼｺに反応したんだと思います。

もっと写真を見たい方は右のリンクへクリックしてください。→ Japan

Autumn in Japan is beautiful!

  The end of October is the festival of Halloween (Oct. 31) and the Day of the Dead (Nov 1). With my husband, I went back on this holiday to Japan. It was the first time we went back together, so I was really looking forward to it. We went for a week and stayed in our house in Yokohama for 3 days, then went to see relatives and travel around in Shikoku.

  On the way to Japan, we took a United plane, as the AAs always have some problems... however, we were unlucky with United as well... about 30 seconds after the engine had started, all the electricity went out and we had to sit in pitch black for 1.5 hours until we could finally leave the airport. So, of course we missed our connection - which finally turned out well, as the next flight we were re-booked was ANA. So, from the flight from San Fransisco, it felt like Japan: the stewardesses were nice and kind, smiling all the time and the inflight meal was delicious. Not to mention the Japanese movies, that my husband just loved! For dinner, of course there were 2 choices: Japanese and Western food. My husband of course enjoyed the Japanese noodles and fish. As for the Western food, I was surprised that they served Hungarian goulash - of course, as a Hungarian, I had to try it! And to my surprise, it was felt like goulash! (Well, in Hungarian we say goulash for a soup, but worldwide it is rather used for our stew-like "porkolt"). So, ANA`s goulash passed!

With the family of my sister-in-law

 On the night we arrived to Japan, we met with my sister-in-law in an Italian restaurant. As it is almost impossible to find good pizza in Mexico, we enjoyed the Italian-like pizza in Japan. Our nephew is already 4 years old. Compared to the last time we saw (hadn`t been 3 yet), he was talking and talking all night long.

Shibuya station

  In the next two days we just enjoyed staying at home and shopping in Yokohama and Tokyo. It has been over a year since we were in Japan - I already forgot the strange things in Japan, so everywhere I looked, seemed new and fresh. I forgot how short the Japanese are, how small the subways are, how squared and matchbox-like the cars and how narrow the streets are in Japan. The mass on the streets is not as annoying, because the people move so coordinated like robots, you just have to adjust to it and no problem. But the one I loved the most were the shops: no wonder, it is said, Japan is the country of services - as you enter a shop, at least 10 sales clerk greets you and whatever you ask, they find you the answer. (Not as in Mexico or in Hungary where you can be glad if the salesman is "kind" enough to get you money if you want to pay. And if you inquire about something, they just shake their heads saying "No, we don`t have it", or "No, I don`t know".)
  The other thing that was very strange (especially after Mexico) was the people: not that they were short or Japanese, but that there are so many elderly in Japan! Mexico is still in the phase of "many-children-few-elderly", but Japan is already an aging society with decreasing population.

Spirited away, alias Dougo Onsen

   We spent the second part of the week on Shikoku. Shikoku means: "four countries" which refers to the four prefectures: Tokushima, Ehime, Kouchi and Kagawa. Our plane arrived to Tokushima city where we first went to see the tombs of my husband`s relatives. In the evening we met with my husband`s aunt and uncle in Tokushima. It was the first time I met them, but they seemed very nice people. Unfortunately, we couldn`t meet the cousins of my husband on that day.
  Next day we went to the "Dougo onsen", a famous spa in Ehime. This spa is said to be the oldest in the country. Everybody, who likes the animes of Miyazaki Hayao knows this spa, as this was the model of the spa in the movie "Spirited Away". It is a really unique spa, with a very good atmosphere. There are even "only tour-tickets" for sale which shows the uniqueness of the spa. This tour was included in our ticket, so after we finished with relaxing in the water, we could take a tour around the building. It was interesting to see the room in the spa that was exclusively built for the imperial family. The walls were covered with 18 carat gold, the wood was cedar, and the stone of the bath of course marvel. Our guide told us that the last visit of an imperial family member was in the 60`s but today the imperial family doesn`t use this place any more. With this room, this spa looked like a museum - a very relaxing museum.

  After Dougo spa, we went back to Tokushima prefecture to visit Ooboke, Koboke. These are two towns with a long canyon between. There is a river in this canyon, where we took a boat ride. It was quite cold (needed a winter jacket), however, we had to take off our shoes to get in the boat! Again, I was surprised on the Japanese culture. Why to take off shoes in a boat??? Why can`t they set up a few benches instead of sitting on the floor of the boat? Anyway, the boat trip was interesting - the water was crystal clear and we saw many wild birds as well.

The boat trip in Ooboke

Kazura bridge

    After the boat trip, we went to see the Kazura bridge. This bridge was built originally by the Heike family when they were in run from the Genji family in the 12th century. They built this bridge in order to be able to cut it down any time, which resulted that the bridge itself is very unstable - I am not afraid of heights, but crossing this bridge was a bit scary. The "floor" of the bridge is made of narrow branches, sometimes with 30cm gaps between them.

You can easily fall if you don`t watch your step!

Meat-udon - it was delicious!

  The next day, we went to the temple of happiness, the Kompira temple in Kagawa prefecture. Kagawa is famous of it`s noodles, the udon, so on the way we couldn`t miss to eat some udon. To me, the opaque Hungarian there is not much difference between noodle and noodle, but I have to admit that the tempura was amazing - the pumpkin was so sweet, I could had never imagine before!

However, even for my "pro" Japanese husband as well, the noodle itself wasn`t anything special. So we drew the conclusion that the vegetables are awsome in the countryside, but udon is udon even in Shikoku. However, this conclusion was a bit early, as the noodle we ate later, after climbing the 758 stairs of the Kompira temple was really delicious. But first we climbed the stairs up to the top in order to gain happiness! :) This temple was really cool, seemed like the temples are built around the stairs. As the temples in Japan are not consist of one single building, but many smaller, larger buildings. And the buildings of this Kompira temple were in line along the stairs - with the main temple in the top, of course. However, if you don`t want to climb so much, there is a service for this as well, too. You can rent a porter (actually two people) who would carry you in a small carriage.

Carriage for the lazy :)

   We saw a lot of people with dogs here, and at the main temple we found out why. Seems that people sent their dogs here when they couldn`t come themselves - they put a sack on the neck of the dog with money to offerings and their wishes inside and sent their dog to the temple. From this tradition, the mascot or the god of this temple became the dog. Therefore, people still come along with their dog to this place.

  Unfortunately, the 7 days in Japan went away fast, and after Kompira, the next day we had to leave back to Mexico. It was a long day: we took a flight from Tokushima to Haneda (Tokyo), then had to take a bus from Haneda airport to Narita airport from where our plane left to Houston and finally to Mexico City. Of course we had problems with our connection in the US but finally, after a looong day, got back to Mexico City.

For more pictures, click on the link on the left! → Japan