Japan Vacation: Atami/Izu Peninsula

I was really tired after hiking Mt. Fuji but got in a nap at a hotel in Mishima and found this great teriyaki place for dinner.

This is their attempt at writing out an English menu.

One of my favorite manhole covers!

Ajiro Station where our host for the Atami Red House that I booked picked us up at 

(more than a few times!)

The only traditional guestroom I stayed in at Atami Red House.  It was a lovely spot.

Oh the slippers! The main ones had little dogs, then there were slippers for the toilet too,

Our hosts took me and another guest for a drive along the sites.  We went to Ajiro's public Beach.

Atami Castle

Atami castle allowed photos of the armor and helmets, which are just beautiful.

I couldn't read anything at the Atami Castle since it was all in Japanese, so I still have no explanation for some of the below images...

(They would carry the lords around in these little boxes)

Atami is known for its dried fish....these are all out in the open markets.

Excellent sashimi, except the cuttlefish....I decided that one wasn't for me.

Zack couldn't help but play with the fish head.

Atami Beach

Private bathhouse that our hosts had access to, hot springs inside and outside on the top story overlooking the bay.

Hibachi

The National Park in Ito...took a wrong turn and had an all-day hike...

It has the largest wax myrtle in Japan.

There's a herd of kitties that live on one of the bluffs along this hike!

The second homemade delicious breakfast at Atami Redhouse.  The bread on the left actually has cream cheese, figs and raisins in the middle.  YUM!

Japan Vacation: Hiking Mount Fuji

Coming up to My. Fuji.

Trail head! 7:15 pm

Trail markers in the dark.

Crazy huge mountain leach.

The moon and clouds.

Flora.

The moon again....the little dots are hikers coming up Mt. Fuji.

Hope!

The entrance to the top. 3:30am

Trying to warm up with miso soup.

Sunrise is coming!

Here it is! 5:15am

Ice at the top.

Heading back down.....

Bells. Make a wish with a bell on Mt. Fuji.

Back down.

Getting close, very tired.

I hiked this at night! It hurt just as bad coming back down. Back to trailhead 9:30am.

Japan Vacation: Hiroshima

My first meal of Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima hit the spot,

I ordered two different kinds, it is even a delicious leftover! 

Breakfast at a french style bakery one morning,  I just loved their wallpaper and flowers. The pastries were yummy too.

 Hiroshima Castle.  I wasn't allowed to take photos inside, but the museum is full of amazing cast iron armor and helmets.  The swords are really intricate too. 

And then I went to the Miyuki seed bead factory which gets it's own post here.

The next day I toured some of the Peace Memorials.

The memorial Cenotaph.

I agree with grandma Behler, being a US citizen and visiting the Hiroshima bombing memorials are tough. This eternal peace memorial looking out on to the skeleton of the Atomic Dome at the back, then the peace flame across a low pool and the sculpture that aligns them. The box shape within the sculpture encases the list of names of people lost in the bombing. 😟

I had lunch at a different Okonomiyaki place waiting for the boat the take me over to Miyajima Island. I like this place even more than the first, it seems at the end of the strip of covered mall before the Peace Memorials.

Stormy boat ride to Miyajima Island.

The deer are like the squirrels in the Grand Canyon. Tons of them, if you have food, they follow you. One greeted me off the boat and immediately got into pockets.

Torii Gate.

Waterfall on the walk up to the gondola.

Japan Rail pass is good for this ferry! Sweet.

Hiroshima giant oysters. 

Heading out to Shikoku Island.

Japan Vacation: Sikoku

Make sure to take the time to reserve train seats with the JR Pass, a whole car to myself from Hiroshima to Matsuyama.

On this train I couldn't figure out why people where taking photos and stopped standing outside with children waving at the train....they have cartoon trains!

The APA Hotel in Matsuyama leaves paper cranes.

I went to Matsuyama to check out the Dogo bathhouse.

Matsuyama has streetcars which were really rather fun.

I found a wonderful textile museum/studio in Matsuyama. Mingei Iyo-Kasuri Kaikan.  Totally off the beaten path. There's a great blog post that I found about it, which I will link to later.

Shuttles excite me.

View from the train between Matsuyama and Uwajima.

Fancy crab sushimi. Yep, raw crab. Something new to mess with the tummy. ;)

Japan Vacation: Miyuki Seed Bead Factory

I emailed Miyuki seed beads back in the winter when it looked like Japan was finally a viable vacation. Gaku has been a wonderful contact and host while we were visiting the site. He picked me up from the train station and took me to the factory where I toured the majority of the seed bead making process. I wasn't allowed to see how they cut the glass tubes, but getting to see the majority of the process was really exciting. 

There were large bins of seed beads all around me, and their storage facility for eventual shipping of these beads was at least three stories high.  I wanted to bury my hands in the bins of beads.

Gaku provided me with some beautiful Miyuki promo materials (second picture) and that evening I had a fun conversation about how I might one day need to start ordering seed beads by the bin. That'll be the day!

Gaku then offered to drive me to the Miyuki gallery which houses the "bead factory" bead shop on the main floor in Fukuyama.  Above is my pile of beads (photo accidentally deleted). I'm always on the lookout for faceted seed beads since I'm finding them harder and harder to get my hands on.  I'm also really excited about the 15/0 Precision seed beads.  From what I can tell, they're like little tiny delicas. Swoon.

Thank you so much to Gaku and Miyuki for their hospitality (and Gaku for driving me around!) I had such a great experience, and as usual,  I'll always be promoting their seed beads since I've been using them in my work for at least 15 years.  I remember when delica colors were limited. 

I almost want to go back for more, I passed the Fukuyama station today and I held back. I have lots of beads. 

I haven't done much beading on this trip, our train rides have been fairly short, I have been doing some reading and a bit of knitting. 

Japan Vacation: Kyoto

Beautiful little shrines everywhere.

This was my hotel for 3 nights, great deal and a helpful staff.

Ice cream! I got the shaved ice strawberry thing.

Golden Pavilion. It's amazing!

I hit so many shrines walking back through Kyoto from the Golden Pavilion.

Such wonderful silks are woven here.

Weaving silk, probably about 100+ ends per inch.

Winding silk off of the silkworm cocoons.

Kimono fashion show.

Writing and birding at the Imperial Palace park.

Kyoto's traditional food.

Nino Castle (it has nightingale floors that chirp when walked on to alarm you that someone is in the building).

Nijo Castle gardens.

Must take your shoes off!

Imperial Palace

I just loved this painting with the bull, kitty and mouse.

Sento Gardens in the Imperial Palace compound, definitely worth seeing. (Better than the Imperial Palace tour.)

Waterfall over a single stone.

All of the rocks behind me were brought in by hand.

Shrine to a Japanese poet.

Praying mantis with red eyes!

Breakfast to-go heading out of Kyoto to Hiroshima.

Train station.

A Kyoto Morning

I really liked Tokyo, but I took a walk alone around Kyoto this morning with my coffee. The cleanliness, the views and the faint scent of incense here and there is wonderful.
People don't crowd each other, and everyone is SO polite.
I always kind of thought that the scenes in Japanese art history were more of a stylistic view of nature. But the trees are truly bent and twisty with the knowledge of thousands of years. Clouds roll in and out of the mountains.
It's wonderful here.