Xmas in Japan

This year I spent my Christmas shopping on the crowded urban streets of downtown Kobe and Osaka, museum hopping on a sunny island beach, and exploring a historical town of feudal Japan. Other than the commerical aspect of Xmas there were few reminders that somewhere else people were opening presents, eating turkey dinners and visiting with family. I can't say I didn't miss that aspect of the holidays a little bit, but during my busy travels I was too occupied to think about much else.

After killing 5 hours in Kanazawa waiting for my bus I spent the whole Sat night travelling to Osaka where I caught the first morning train to Kobe. As usual I had trouble sleeping on the bus so when I finally met up with yuki at Sannomiya (after an hour detour into the inaka due to not listening to the train conductor) I was about ready to pass out. Fortunately I was able to sleep in the car on the way to our first destination.

When I woke up I looked out the window to see we were in a city again. I figured we were prolly still in the Kobe region, but when I asked yuki and his mom where we were they said "Okayama" (!?) Okayama is a large city 3 hours down the coast from Kobe. It is also a place I've been meaning to visit for a long time, being the place of my ancestors and home of my family shrine. Obviously I didn't have the opportunity to pay a visit to the shrine (seeing as I don't even know where it is in Okayama) but I can at least say now that I've been there.

Our actual destination wasn't Okayama but the large island off the coast called Naoshima, famous for its contemporary art. The two museums we visited were designed by the renowned Japanese architect, Tadao Ando and are located at the island's highest point where there's a lovely view of the surrounding beach. On the boat ride from Okayama harbor to Naoshima you could see several dozen islands along the coast of Japan, including Shikoku.

Besides the Benisse and Chichu Art Museums, many other smaller exhibits can be seen scattered around the island for tourists. In the residential areas there are a series of houses designed by various artists that combined elements of traditional Japanese architecture and modern art. We visited two of the houses and one shrine (you can see details with pictures on my flickr account)

The whole day spent on Naoshima was sunny and warm- a nice change from Toyama's cold, soggy weather. Weird feeling walking on a beach lined with palm trees on Christmas Eve in just a light fall jacket. I thought it might be a bit depressing having Christmas without snow, but since there wasn't really anything else that evoked feelings associated with xmas it felt like just another eventful day in Japan.

That night we had *real* Chicago pizza delivery for dinner. hisashiburi :)

We started the next day with a walk around Yuki's neighborhood. All the houses were built in Western style but with uniquely Japanese elements too (kinda like the art from Naoshima). What was most bizarre was a dairy farm located in the same neighborhood up a small dirt road from the modern suburban houses.

I had previously thought there were no farm animals in Japan, simply 'cause there didn't seem to be any room. Every inch of land not used for development is utilized for rice cultivation or is too mountainous for anything else, so I was really surprised to find a farm smack-dab in an urban city. It looked and smelled just like an Amer farm except more compact. I guess kobe beef's gotta come from somewhere...

Anywho, after the cows we drove to a part of Kobe called Aruma. Aruma onsen was a fav spot of military leader and unifier of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the 1500s and *i think* is Japan's oldest hot spring. We did a bit of shopping there and had takoyaki for lunch.

We spent the remainder of the day walking around flashy downtown Kobe. Being Xmas the streets were especially crowded and swarming with couples. We were able to escape the chaos in an izakaya yuki used to work at and ended the evening with cake 'n coffee.

The first two days of my trip the weather was perfect(what is it about kobe and good weather?), but as soon as we got into Osaka the last day it started pouring so we spent most of our time chilling out in a cafe and restaurant.

So once again good trip, if not a bit rushed. Only one more day of work before I take off for Tokyo...