I finished off my stay in Yamaga with a treat from my family to a lunch at the temple, there were so many delicious courses and all of them contain no animal or fish meats as it is the food they serve the priests. It was all very extravagant. Dont worry I photo documented the whole thing!
The next day, April 10, I left for Hiroshima to meet up with The Matsubara's. The Grandfather (Shishio), Grandmother (Katsuyo), Daughter (Mitsue) and Grandson (Daichi) met me on the platform of the train station. Then we headed into the central business district to go for Hiroshima's famed Okonomiyaki...which was fantastic of course...I warn you all I have gained a little weight and if it were not for all the walking I do I would probably have hit 200lbs. phew! Hiroshima is an absolutely gorgeous city, right on the water on the Inland sea it almost feels like Victoria situated with mountains and beauty...only about 15 degrees warmer this time of year. After lunch we picked up the Granddaughter (Hinano) and headed over to Miyajima Island - with the giant red Torii in the water. It was a very beautiful day and the kids played with the deer that roam around the island, although they are luckily not as greedy as the ones in Nara. The tide was out so unfortunately you could see the bottom of the torii. But there were hundreds of people on the beach digging for clams(?). For dinner we got to go to the gigantic restaurant with the revolving sushi plates, the (insert name of moving counter here) snakes its way throughout the entire restaurant and you simply grab whatever you want or ask one of the approx 10 sushi chefs to make it for you.
April 11 was a very early morning as we drove 2.5 hours to Shimonoseki to get there for a cargo ship boat launch. The whole family was in the van including the son-in-law (who is Kimiko and Takayoshi Tanaka-from Yamaga/Kumamoto's son) Takachiho, who thankfully spoke some English so communication was not completely filled with gestures and the dictionary. It was a very short ceremony but very cool to see this massive boat slowly slide into the water for the first time. Then we visited the Akama Shrine, which is just across the road from the ocean where Shishio and Katsuyo got married and I got to see a bride who was getting her wig changed! After a delicious lunch Takachiho, Hinano and I went to the Aquarium before we all went back into Hiroshima to visit the A-Bomb Museum, peace arch and A-Bomb dome.
April 12 was yet another early morning, this time we headed north to Matsue. We visited the country's most beautiful garden The Adachi Garden, which has been painstakingly manicured. But simply amazing. This garden also combines with a museum which snakes its way through the garden, as you cannot walk through the garden area you can only look at it from certain viewing areas. The museum houses the collection of an art patron who collected modern Japanese artists and is quite an impressive selection. Then we went for soba noodles near the castle.
April 14 after being sick for a day I took the train over to Kurashiki (my only day of rain) to visit the famous Ohara Museum of Art. The founder collected many modern art works including from the likes of Jasper Johns, Pollock, Miro, Kandinsky, Monet, Matisse, Rothko, the list continues.
April 15 I headed once again on the train and left beautiful home of the Matsubara's for Shikoku, where I was met at the station by my grandmother's friends Seiji and Sachiko. We went for lunch at an organic buffet, stopped off at the house before heading over to a mountain top along the water where in the sand below is a giant Japanese compass. Then we watched the sunset from a Japanese onsen on the seashore.
April 16 we drove through the inland highway to Tokushima, along the way we stopped at an old village and met a man who carves tiny figurines out of bamboo. Then we made our way to Naruto, and got on a tour boat that takes you to the spot where the Inland Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. The intersection causes whirlpools which can get very big if you catch a sailing at low or high tide. The boat also has windows on along the lower sides so you can see the whirlpools from below the surface. It felt pretty wonderful to be out on the water.
April 17, we drove to Takamatsu to take a ferry over to Naoshima, a tiny island. Its my heaven, no joke if you are a modern art lover you would be in absolute awe of the place. I sure was and still am. Pictures will never do the place justice and for most of it you cannot take photos anyway and the catalogs dont quite come near the experience of it. But I do suggest you all look the place up. I did buy one older book, but the new stuff isnt in there. Anyhow. We first visited the Art House Project, where in a small town on the brink of desertion was rehabilitated because architects and artists were asked to reconstruct, rebuild and interpret old bruildings and structures to create new spaces. So you basically do a house tour and see all the wonderfully creative things they have done. Tadao Ando is a major contributing architect to the whole island and he has built a space in the Art House Project. Next we went to the beach side and the start of the Bennesse House area. On the Naoshima property scattered along the shoreline are almost 20 pieces of commissioned artworks that remain permanent structures for you to interact with and enjoy, all exposed to the elements, some of them quite monumental they fit into the landscape and interact with the natural surroundings. Bennesse House is also a hotel, where guests escape the craziness of the city to spend a night in serenity in beautiful buildings designed by Tadao Ando and some have their own major artwork in the rooms so the public does not get to see them. Bennesse House is also a museum where you can see art work from Major Modern and contemporary artists from around the world. Yes there is a Pollock and a couple David Hockneys and a Warhol I have never seen or heard of.
Then we headed up to the Chichu Art Museum...its all underground. Ando wanted to create something that was monumental yet cohesive with the landscape. The artwork inside makes you speechless. The works or John Turnell you feel with every sense of your body. I even fell in love with Monet, (as few of you know I am not a fan of Impressionism, while I respect it in terms of an art historical perspective I personally am not a fan, especially of Monet). Well now I think he is brilliant and only thanks to Ando and the space he created to display the four Monet's they gallery has. You have to walk into a room in slippers it is completely white and you turn the corner and have to walk through one room into the Monet space. All paintings are of the Waterlilies series. You are first confronted with the massive approximately 8 x 15ft or more painting, that is so stark against the white walls. Its all lit by natural light but its underground so its not direct lighting. Once you move into the room you see two more paintings on the side walls, and finally behind you is the last painting. Its unreal. Thankfully we went on a weekday so we were the only ones in the gallery, for most of the day there was barely anyone around so you really got to spend time with the art and take in the whole scene. It was amazing. Ok I will stop gushing here. The rest of you art buffs can ask me about the rest... or I am sure I will tell you anyways. But I will not bore the poor other folks reading this. Not to mention how long this thing is getting.
April 18 Today I conquered Mt. Kompirasan. Its a series of temples on a mountain side. There are 1,382 stairs to the furthest shrine and yes I did them all! It felt awesome to accomplish it because lots of people go to the main temple but its maybe just over 1/3 of the way up....so its was nice to get to the top where there were only about a dozen people.
Ok I am done. I most likely will not be writing again as I have less than a week left and am going back to Tokyo on Monday to do some shopping!!! But when I post my photos on facebook when I am back in the country I will be sure to put a link to them on here! Thanks everyone for reading. Cant wait to see some of you when I am back on Canadian soil.
Lots of Love, as always
Alyssa
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