My favorite place in Japan from a tourist’s point of view is probably Fushimi Inari Taisha, the large shrine to Inari, diety of cereal grains and business. It’s a really quick train ride away from central Kyoto. If you read Japanese, you might be interested in the official site.
Even if you’ve never been, you’re probably already familiar with the site. It was featured in Memoirs of a Geisha. It was also the inspiration for the art installation “The Gates” by Christo and Jean-Claude. The epic arrangement of Shinto gates (鳥居 / torii) packed so tightly together creates an amazing, surreal illusion – you feel as though you’re walking through an otherworldly hallway.
I’ve been to Fushimi Inari Taisha 4 or 5 times now, and it sure doesn’t get old. It’s sort of like Miyajima in that it stands apart from other shrines and temples. If that sort of thing isn’t up your alley, you may find yourself thinking “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” You won’t get that feeling here. Visiting at different times of day, in different seasons, etc. all change the scenery drastically.
I included Fushimi Inari in my old student travelogue from my study abroad days. You can see a video clip that I put together by clicking here (it will open in an overlay) or by visiting the original. I also wrote about it a few years ago when I spent Christmas vacation in Kyoto at the J-Hoppers hostel with friends, including J-Web vlogger/blogger Claytonian.
If you do go, I recommend taking the extra time to wander up to the upper loop past the lakes. I love the view at the top – you can even see Kyoto Tower. Most people tend to go a little bit into it and turn back, imagining that things look the same all the way up. The truth is, the scenery changes. Fox statues, mini-torii and all sorts of devotionals, incense burners, and the like are scattered throughout the area. Perhaps you’ll meet and befriend a shrine cat there like I’ve done on more than one occasion.
The theme for this Japan Blog Matsuri was “your favorite place in Japan.” It’s being hosted by Shane at the Nihon Sun.
Deas Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri, Media, Photos, RIH Entries, Trips, Unsolicited Commentary
I went to Taiwan recently, and I thought I’d share a few of my pictures. I won’t pretend to know anything, because this was one of very few times that I did absolutely no research about the country I was visiting prior to…visiting. I knew woefully little about Taiwan before I stepped off of the plane. I basically knew that Tainan (台南), Taipei (台北), and Taiwan (台湾) all share kanji. I knew that Taipei was the capital and that Tainan was the more cultural city, being the oldest on the island. I knew the basic gist of the country’s political history from my Asian Studies classes back in college…but that’s pretty much it. 
And if I’m perfectly honest, I still don’t know very much. So I’ll leave the instructive sounding stuff to other people and just show you random shots that I liked for one reason or another. I’ll sum up stuff that I “learned” after the gallery.
I did “take away” some observations, in spite of my total tourist mentality (or perhaps due to it?). 1) Tainan is way cooler than Taipei for the lazy casual cultural tourists. I’ll elaborate on this when I post my Taipei pictures. Here’s an analogy for you SAT-prep nerds out there. “Tainan” is to “Taipei” as “Kyoto” is to “Tokyo.” 2) The ridiculous stuff is often cooler than the famous stuff. I honestly thought the Anping Tree House was cooler than Anping Fort, which is the more historical and more widely known attraction in the same area. 3) The Dutch were freakin’ influential EVERYWHERE. Ha ha. Going through the museums and histories, I often found myself wondering if things had gone differently, would Dutch people rule the world? 4) Night Markets are the coolest thing to do by a long shot. Way cool. Still couldn’t bring myself to try stinky tofu, though. (臭豆腐 = literally “smell” + “bean” + “rot” according to my limited / Japanese understanding of the characters. [Obviously, 豆腐 is "tofu" normally. I separated it for effect.] Whew. Very accurate name.) Most people who’ve tried it say that they love the stuff, but dude…..I had to hold my breath to walk by the little stalls selling it. I’m all for expanding my formerly uber-picky culinary horizons, but I just don’t think I’m there yet. 
By the way, the English “fermented tofu” seems redundant to me, since tofu is “fermented soy bean curd.” But yeah, that should tell you how pungent it is – it’s twice rotted! Ha ha. 5) Walk everywhere you can. Only take cabs for long distances. You get to see so much more of the city. Anyhoo, like I said, I’m still unfortunately ignorant of a lot of cool stuff in Tainan, but I got to know the city over a few days. Good times. More on the Taiwan trip – specifically Taipei – later.
Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos, Trips
That’s right, I took some pictures of this year’s cherry blossoms in THREE DIMENSIONS. To view these 3-D pictures, you need to be able to cross your eyes. (Sorry!) If you have no idea what this is about, check the original post. These pictures were all taken early last week at Osaka Castle. Stopped there after arriving in Osaka from Taipei, before hopping on the Orange Ferry back to Shikoku. Lemme know what you think! Note – usually clicking on my thumbnails will open the larger versions in an overlay – this time they’ll open in a new tab or window. Some folks said they wished that they could get a larger version – so I linked to the edited originals. They’re big. 
Hope that works. Enjoy!
Leave me a comment, and if you liked this article, consider submitting it to JapanSoc! (Or if it’s already there, vote for it in the Upcoming section!)
Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos
Alas, another of my island schools has closed. 今治高等学校大島分校, or Oshima Branch School (attached to Imabari Minami Prefectural High School). I’d taught there for 3 years. I watched this class – only 12 seniors, the only students in the school this year – come in as freshmen. Quite an emotional day all around. Murakami-sensei led his homeroom to the front of the gym, where they received their diplomas in front of the audience, several cameramen, the mayor, and me. The music was provided by the brass band from Minami High School, which sounded amazing as they played their rendition of Angela Aki’s latest hit. The band was roughly three times the size of the graduating class. Ha ha. Next came the official closing ceremony, where the school flag is given back to the city. Afterward, the graduates made their way to their old home room for one last intimate moment. Murakami-sensei delivered a thanks speech, and presented each student with a special certificate, separate from their diploma. He shook their hands, they wept, yelled their thanks to their parents who lined the back of the room, and sat down again. I was really, really proud. I went in afterward and shook their hands and congratulated them individually. What a day. I started with seven schools, and now I’m down to five. But I have great memories of both that closed. Side note: I usually do not show my students’ faces in pictures out of an abundance of caution, but these are no longer my students!
Deas Customary Drivel, Media, Photos
Welcome to the February 2009 Japan Blog Matsuri! This month’s theme was Foreign Food, and we’ve got quite the blog smorgasbord from which to sup. We had a record-breaking total of 26 direct entries for this matsuri. If you add in the recommendations, it comes to a whopping total of 34 entries in all. Because some participants are inside Japan looking out at foreign food, whereas others are elsewhere looking at Japanese food as foreign, I’ve split the entries accordingly. Please make sure you don’t miss any of the entries! I’ve selected my own personal top 3 at the bottom of the post. When you’re done looking through the entire spread, head back here and vote for your own favorites in the poll. Read more…
Deas Announcements, Customary Drivel, JBMatsuri, Photos
This is a weird, random, slightly impulsive post. You see, back when I was in college, I found out that you could make a 3-dimensional image with any camera at all. You simply take 2 images of the same spot spaced apart at about the distance between your eyes. (The easy way is to just take a picture using the viewfinder on one eye, then take the same picture using the other eye, moving the camera, not your head.) If you place the image for your right eye on the left, and the image for your left on the right, and cross your eyes, you get a 3D picture. It’s true. I surfed the web and even found plans for a box you could create to help people who can’t cross their eyes view the images. The other option is to make so-called “wiggle-images” that quickly flash back and forth between the frames, letting your brain do the make-up work stitching them together. Well, I’ve decided to do a series of 3D shots around my area.
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My question to you, dear reader, is:
any requests?
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Click on any of these thumbnails to bring up a larger overlay of the image, as usual. Think of them like those old magic eye things. If you cross your eyes, instead of 2 frames demarcated by the white line down the middle, try to create 3 frames. The one in the center will be in 3D. It helps if you’re looking squarely at the picture. Once your eyes lock onto it, you can move them around without losing the 3D effect. Can you think of any sights around the Seto Inland Sea or rural Japan in general that you’d like to see in 3 dimensions? If so, leave a comment!
