racheldoinstuff
Rachel Doin' Stuff
assorted adventures and hopefully good times
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We enjoyed our first visit to Suma Rikyu Park! It was a bit rainy but did clear up after a while. Sort of in-between major flower seasons, but there was still plenty to see and lots of places to play!
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Cherry blossom season is winding down, but it was wonderful this year!! We had some chilly weather right before and then rain as the flowered were opening, but we still got some lovely days to picnic under blooming branches.
There are different kinds of cherry trees, but I don’t know the names at all. That’s alright. Even without knowing, I can enjoy their happy blossoms.
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We went to Wakayama and enjoyed exploring Tomogashima! Under a pseudonym, it’s the setting for the anime Summer Time Rendering, and in real life was home to the Japanese military.
There are several trekking courses around, and none of them are too strenuous. Even our 3-year-old managed to do the whole day by herself, with stops to play along the way. We spotted several other families with younger and older children, plus visitors of all ages, some of whom were marked as fans of the anime by their keychains of Summer Time Rendering characters. We paid ¥200 at Kada Port for a little guidebook, and the map in it was much more helpful than the map in the free brochure!
The ferry from Kada Port has added extra runs due to the increasing popularity of the island.
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Last weekend, I took my second trip to the Awaji Green House, a botanical garden housed in an Ando Tadao-designed building. It was just as jungly and magnificent as I remembered from several years ago!
This time, we had our 3 1/2-year-old with us, and she had a great time too, especially in the little tea party set up on the other side of some low-ceiling tunnels through the bushes. We all enjoyed the colorful and fragrant flowers, massive cacti, and funky, unfamiliar plants.
The entry fee was double the usual fee, because there was a special art exhibition inside the greenhouse. Large artworks using seeds, dried flowers, and other plant parts were scattered around the garden. Projections of swirling snowflakes and some music/sound effects were hidden among the plants too. The installation-garden combo was a total success!
The greenhouse will close in April for a yearlong renovation, so we were really glad we got to see it again before then. I wonder what will be different when it reopens. We will definitely go back!
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Finally made it to Kinkaku Temple (aka Kinkakuji) in Kyoto! It was very shiny and very gold! Of course, I’ve seen many photos of it, but it was still surprising just how … gold it was.
I was impressed with how smoothly foot traffic was conducted through the temple/park area. It was quite a bus ride to get there from Kyoto Station, so it was a relief that the paths were wide for many pedestrians with many good spots for photographs. There were a lot of people there, but it didn’t feel crowded and viewing didn’t feel rushed.
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Lunar New Year in Kobe’s Nankinmachi! The Lion Dance is my favorite.
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If you don't mind me asking, where are you teaching English in Japan? And with what program? I'm looking to apply to programs in Japan or China after I graduate.
Wow, I have no idea when this message came. I just opened (like, 15 years into using Tumblr) the message request menu 😂
I was teaching with Interac, an ALT company for 7 years. I worked for the Hiroshima Branch. There are many more different companies now than when I first came, so there are plenty of options anywhere you’d want to live in Japan.
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We went over to Himeji to see the teamLab exhibition ("Existence is an Infinite Continuity) at the Himeji City Art Museum. It was so good! I really appreciate an exhibition that is family-friendly, because I want to take my kid to see art. There was background music and talking was not discouraged (of course, we kept our volume down), and it was fine to touch the walls (even though the art was all projected and there wasn't much to touch other than the texture of the walls 😛).
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An afternoon at Sumaura-koen
We took the ropeway next to Sanyo Sumaura-Koen station, then walked to the chair lifts and rode them up! I was surprised that the signs said children ages three and up can ride by themselves! Mia survived, but she did cry a little going across. Coming back she smiled and enjoyed it.
It’s winter, so there weren’t too many people up there, but ropeway was fairly full. The hiking course, playground, observation decks, and small amusement park spreads people out quite a bit. I’d like to go back in summer when the gardens aren’t so bare. It had an abandoned feeling even though everything was pretty nice.
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Another little camping trip! This time we went to Ako City’s Seaside Park and Campground. It was really kid-friendly, with multiple play areas (slides, monkey bars, etc) and wide open spaces for running around or riding bikes.
I was really impressed by the nice facilities: clean restrooms (heated toilet seats!!), hot water for washing dishes in the big water station, and roomy showers (¥200/5 minutes). We will definitely get back there again!
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We went camping at Chichibugahama in Kagawa! We enjoyed the last sunset of 2023, and the first morning of 2024 was so beautiful.
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Took a weekend trip to Yamagata to see Grandma! It was flurrying in Fukushima when we arrived, but we could see more and more snow clouds over the mountains. As we drove from the Fukushima airport towards Yamagata, we went through many tunnels. Each tunnel revealed more snow! It was pretty to look at from the cozy heated seats of our rental car, but it sure was chilly when we had to get out.
The momiji, Japanese maples, were in full glory!! We visited the beautiful Uesugi Shrine which had quite a few fine maples in addition to the impressively tall cedar trees.
It was pretty fun to sit by a propeller on our little plane. The propeller made it a little tricky to spot Mt. Fuji, but I was able to spot it!
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I stumbled upon an art exhibition and sale a couple weeks ago! I was so excited to see the Ghost in the Shell artwork. Photos were allowed in front of these big posters, so I asked my 3-year-old to take pictures of me. She did a pretty good job! The show is traveling around Japan, with dates and locations available on the website. To be honest, I haven’t watched the most recent Ghost in the Shell SAC 2045, but I enjoyed the art on display very much!
The other side of the exhibition featured some amazing fantasy art by Amano Yoshitaka and Yumihiko. You can see some examples on their website.
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Incredible trip to Takamatsu to see the Shishimai Okoku festival! So many groups performed the Shishimai dance and in very different styles.
I had never seen the Rikyuu (Okinawan) style Shishimai before, so I’m not sure if the group I saw at Takamatsu performs in a typical Okinawan or their own unique style, but their performance was fantastic. I loved seeing them walk around and join (invade?) others later on too.
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We took the Queen Beetle high speed ferry from Hakata to Busan back in August. It was fantastic!
We stayed at a hotel by Haeundae Beach, rode in a cute Sky Capsule along the coast, and visited the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, the "most beautiful temple in Korea." We went up to the X the Sky observatory and had a drink at the highest Starbucks in the world (on the 100th floor!) We ate plenty of yummy food, and returned to Japan ready to plan another trip to Korea.
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Finally made it onto the Tottori Sand Dunes! It was hot and windy and very, very beautiful! We parked at the free parking lot above the dunes and road the ¥400 round-trip chairlift, which was REALLY fun and super worth it.
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We had a fantastic one-night camping car adventure at the Kassel RV Park in Asago City. We took a bath inside the main building, which was so relaxing and refreshing after spending the day at Yodel Forest Park meeting various animals!
It was such a quiet and peaceful place to stay, although there were quite a few lights around the campground that made it a little hard to see stars. The restroom facilities were REALLY nice, which is always something I'm quite happy to see at a camping place!
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