Category: Travel

(Shimogo, Fukushima prefecture)

We visited this old postal station, which is located between Aizu Wakamatsu and Tokyo, at the end of the day. At that time, it transformed from a frenzy of busy souvenir shops that were catering to the crowds of tourists to a quiet Edo period village.

From Tokyo, it takes approximately four hours to reach the Ouchi-juku by car. Consequently, most of tourist groups leave the village by approximately 5 pm to return to their homes or hotels. The life in the village slows down, shops and restaurants close. One can really feel suddenly transported back in time.

Our friends wanted to give us an authentic Japanese experience of eating soba noodles in an old restaurant located in a period building. Although that particular restaurant had already closed, the owners accommodated us and prepared a wonderful dinner of cold soba and tempura. The building itself was fascinating, with its straw roof, hibachi in the middle of the room, and centuries of black soot covering the wooden beams under the ceiling.

The thatch roofs in Ouchi-juku deserve a special note. A typical roof is very thick. It provides excellent insulation and keeps the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It takes a great skill to maintain a traditional roof, and people carrying this disappearing trade are highly regarded in Japan.

Later, when we returned to Canada, we saw a program on NHK about the Ouchi-juku, featuring the very same restaurant where we enjoyed our soba dinner. Apparently, the current owners of the restaurant are descendants of the original owners, who settled in Aizu area in the 17th century.

Please follow the link to see our photographs of Ouchijuku.

Photography Notes

This particular trip demonstrated once again the difficulties of combining photography with conventional sightseeing. Our non-photographer friends, at times, had different pace and sightseeing priorities compared to us.

Here are some suggestions on how to manage to take a few useable photographs while accommodating other people in the group:

1. Take every opportunity to shoot. There might not be a better angle, light, etc. than the current moment.
2. Have the camera ready at all times: on your neck, turned on, lens cap off.
3. Use a zoom lens (wide-to-short tele or normal-to-short tele).
4. Use the aperture priority mode with f>=5.6 to ensure large depth of field and a relatively high ISO setting to reduce motion blur (unless the blur is intentional).

Please share your experiences/suggestions of combining photography with vacation travel.

Visit gallery

The day trip by car to Aizu Wakamatsu from Tokyo was one of the most memorable highlights of the entire visit to Japan. Our thanks go to Toshi san for spending his time with us. It wouldn’t be the same experience without him.

The city itself is located in a valley, surrounded by mountains. After a long drive (about four hours from Tokyo), an unexpected view of the great white statue on Kannon overlooking the city leaves a surreal impression.

Aizu Wakamatsu Castle (Tsuruga Jo)

The castle contains a very nice museum, and the grounds still retain the atmosphere of samurai history. There is a kendo dojo in the castle grounds. We heard the unmistakable sounds of clashing shinai and kiai, and followed them to watch the practice. The walls of the dojo were removed, which must have made the practice in the heat of the Japanese summer at least bearable. There were mostly very young people in the dojo (probably, middle- or high school students). It was nice to see that the castle grounds are still being used for martial arts practice. I had a similar feeling of history being naturally preserved in the castles of Czech Republic.

The castle has many enclosed areas that are not apparent at first, but are a pleasure to discover. For example, if one looks out of a window from the main tower, one can see a small inner courtyard filled with bonsai trees.

In one of the halls, there are portraits of Byakkotai (“White Tiger Corps”) – young (mostly teenage) samurai, who committed seppuku when they saw smoke from the castle town and assumed that the castle had fallen during the Boshin War (1868). It was very sad to see their faces after we just observed a kendo practice inside of the very same castle walls. With all the flare of chivalry, it is definitely important not to forget the darker side of bushido.

Buke yashiki (Samurai residence)

Another excellent samurai museum is in a restored household of the chief retainer of the Aizu clan, Saigo Tanomo.

The architecture of the old buildings is fascinating, and the museum gives a glimpse into the daily activities during the Edo period.

There is also an example of a deadly resolve to protect the clan dispayed by the people who used to live there – the “blood room,” where women of the household, to avoid being taken as hostages, killed their children and themselves when the compound was overtaken by enemy troops during the Boshin War. The story is that the last woman mortally wounded herself, but was unable to deliver the mortal blow. She asked a soldier, who entered the room, to assist her, assuming that he was an ally. He was, in fact, an enemy, but he did help her to commit suicide in order to ease her suffering.

These days, the room is starkly empty. The screen paintings in the room are placed upside-down (gyaku-byobu) to indicate that there has been a death in the family.

Visit gallery

The iconic Yokohama skyline with the dominant Yokohama Landmark Tower and the Grand InterContinental Hotel buildings are very impressive from the Osanbashi Pier – the International Passenger Terminal, which is located across the harbor from the Yamashita-koen park (map). The boardwalk on the pier provides an unusual foreground. Mt. Fuji was unfortunately not visible due to high humidity (we visited the place in August). Otherwise, the view must be truly spectacular.

At night, the sidewalk along the amusement park with the rollercoaster rides and the Ferris wheel was lined with photographers, who were trying to capture the colorful light trails of the rides with long exposures.

From the observation floor on top of the Landmark Tower, the millions of lights of the city below offered many attractive possibilities for photography. One needed to be careful to avoid reflections in the glass and occasional bumps from the many tourists, who were crowded into the observation floor.

An interesting incident occurred during our visit to Yokohama that once again demonstrated the power of the all-penetrating technology. Our friend lost the parking receipt from the parkade. Since the receipt contained a time stamp, he was quite concerned that we would have to pay the maximum charge. However, as we were exiting the parkade, it turned out that the license plate of the car was recorded on video when we first entered, and that video could be used to determine the time of our entry. As much as we were relieved at that time, one has to wonder about the implications on privacy of the widespread use of video surveillance on Japanese highways and elsewhere in the cities.