Kagami-san,
Kimura-san, and Saito-san at the entrance to Nikko...Since the weekend of the 16th was my last free weekend in Tokyo, my friend Satoshi Kagami thought I should see some of the beautiful sites in the Tokyo area. Kagami-san and I met during my first visit to Japan--we both participated in the U.S.-Japan Graduate Student Forum for robotics graduate students, held after the 1996 Intelligent Robots and Systems conference in Osaka. Kagami-san was my unofficial host during my stay in the Inoue-Inaba Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. He was always available if I needed help or had a question. We had many interesting discussions during that summer and we still are good friends to this day. Kagami-san suggested that we visit Nikko on Saturday and Kamakura on Sunday. That sounded like a good plan. Nikko is one of the most popular tourist attractions for Japanese people. It is a very old shrine, established near the beginning of the Edo period. The ashes of Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first Edo period Shogun (supreme military ruler) are interned there. Also, the Nikko shrine has some of the most beautiful wooden carvings in the world. So on the morning of the 16th Kagami-san, Yuko Kimura (Kagami-san's girfriend), Hajime Saito (a member of the Inoue-Inaba Laboratory), and I set off for Nikko. Unfortunately, the 16th turned out to be a less than perfect day weather-wise. Nikko is north of Tokyo in the mountains and although it was only cloudy in Tokyo, a light rain was falling at Nikko and it was also foggy. An all-around dreary day. Even so, we had a good time.
Kagami-san,
Kimura-san, and Saito-san at the entrance to Nikko...
The pagoda inside
Nikko...
The Sleeping
Cat...
The grave of
Ieyasu Tokugawa...
Nikko rooftops...
A guardian...
It was a kasa kind
of day...
After visiting the shrine and eating lunch we went to visit a famous waterfall in the Nikko area. However, because of the fog we could only hear it. Another, smaller waterfall was in the area so we went there and took some photographs.
A small
waterfall...
Kagami-san,
Kimura-san, and Saito-san...
The next stop was the Nikko Astraea Hotel. This hotel has an onsen (hot spring) and Kagami-san thought I should experience this popular form of relaxation. I was very happy to do so because I didn't want to spend a whole summer in Japan without visiting an onsen. I was concerned, however, with the water temperature. The Japanese like their bath water very hot. I don't know how they can stand it so hot, but I suppose they get used to it as children. I cannot tolerate very hot water, so I was concerned about whether I could handle the heat. When we entered the onsen, Kimura-san left us to go the the women's area. In the past men and women commonly bathed together but Christian missionaries put a stop to that after they discovered Japan. Kagami-san, Saito-san, and I went into the men's onsen and, after washing ourselves thoroughly as is the custom in Japan before entering the bath, the moment of truth arrived. Kagami-san and Saito-san got right into the water as if it was not hot at all. I stepped into the water up to my knees and at that point I knew I was in trouble. The water was scalding! Or at least that's how it seemed to me. After about 10 minutes I was able to sit down in the water for brief periods but it was really too hot for me. Kagami-san recommended that I not stay in the water too long because it could put a strain on my heart. So I sat with only my legs in the water and every once in a while I would fully immerse myself. It was a nice experience and I can see how it can be very relaxing if the water is not too hot.
After relaxing in the onsen, Kagami-san wanted to take me to one of his favorite sake restaurants in Ginza. Of course, sake can be had in any Japanese restaurant, but some restaurants are noted for their extensive sake selection and the method of serving sake. The tables at our restaurant featured sake warming areas, where the sake could be placed to be heated. Some people prefer warm sake, others like it cold. Supposedly, the ideal temperature is around 96 degrees Farenheight because that's the temperature of sake which is kept in a container close to the human body (as it was traditionally carried in Japan). In our restaurant, the sake is served in pewter containers, either packed in ice to keep it cold or without ice allowing the container to be placed in the warming area. The "sake list" was a large menu of different sakes arranged according to grade and with annotations to indicate dryness. I wasn't aware before I went to this restaurant that sake can be dry (a negative number--the more negative the drier) or non-dry (a positive number). Also, the best sake is distilled to increase its alcohol content and to make it more smooth to the palatte. We had a second-grade sake and also a first-grade sake. Both were very good but the first-grade was more potent and more smooth. We also had some interesting foods: yakitori (pieces of chicken--whitemeat, heart, gizzard, etc.--on bamboo skewers), imported alligator, and ika (squid). The ika was interesting-- we received a plate with four pieces from the body of an adult squid plus four whole baby squid. The baby squid were to be eaten whole, as one mouthful. Since I had already eaten a grasshopper (see July 18th), I said "why not?" and put it into my mouth. Not being one to swallow things without chewing them, I began to chew it but then I realized that it was probably best to just swallow it unchewed (chewing did not help the taste). Another rite of passage in Japan.