Read Part One: On our Way to Tanigumi Kegonji
After hours of driving and having found the Tanigumi Kegonji temple parking lot, we tumble out of the car. We’re glad to ease our legs which are cramped from sitting so long. Continue reading
Today fog clings to the earth. Tile roofs, spent vegetables and recently-cut stocks of rice dotting the fields, even the hills and the sky lose their edges in smudges of pewter, dun, and dirty wool. Bone-coloured smoke from fires at the edges of the rice fields rises like incense and weds the mist. Silken heads of susuki grass nod in polite greeting as we pass. Continue reading
According to ancient tradition, Ise Jingu in Ise city located in Mie prefecture is the seat of Amaterasu-omikami (goddess of the sun and the universe). Along with other relics, her sacred mirror is enshrined here.
Tori Gate at Ise Jingu
We cry out for what we have lost, and we remember you again.
~ Leonard Cohen ~
I can’t help it. Standing in front of numerous painted figurines set up in a Nagoya department store, I can’t suppress my laughter. Trying to hold it in prompts tears. An unsolicited mess. After all these weeks, maybe the journey is getting to me. Continue reading
Event Poster
The Fraser Valley Chapter of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (or more affectionately known as PWAC) has teamed with the University of the Fraser Valley to present the first ever joint seminar for students, alumni and friends in the Fraser Valley who’d like to learn more about writing for a living. Continue reading
Since the Tokugawa Museum gardens are lit up at night during the autumn leaf-viewing season and I need a change of pace from dinner followed by TV or laundry or recording the day in my journal, I ask the front desk to hail a cab. Continue reading
CBC’s headline reads “Patrick Chan settles for silver on Canadian Trail.” Others have said the same. This is just the sort of North American media wanking that has prevailed at Olympic Games since Salt Lake City in 2002. Or at least, that’s when it first caught my attention and has irked me ever since. That year one of the advertisers ran the appalling slogan, “Second place is for losers.” Continue reading
Meaning to thank him one more time before leaving Hiroshima, I look for the poor young man who had to deal with me yesterday, but he’s nowhere in sight this morning. After turning in my voucher I receive a second JR Rail Pass, board my train and roll into Nagoya with a day to fill before heading out to Ise tomorrow. Continue reading
Shinkansen (Bullet Train) and JR Rail Pass. Photo Credit: About-Japan.com website
At midnight my three-week JR Rail Pass will expire. This pass can only be obtained outside Japan by non-Japanese and allows visitors almost unlimited riding on the JR Train system as well as some ferries and buses. One caveat. The JR Rail Pass does not apply to the super express Nozomi or Mizuho; however, the Hikari, the next fastest class of Shinkansen is included and doesn’t take that much longer. Continue reading