Japanese Jaunt: The Tokyo Trials

Tokyo trials means we lived in Tokyo when we went on these journeys. They don’t necessarily have anything to do with Tokyo itself. But since the kanji for Tokyo means “East Capital”, this also infers that we’re seeing the east side of Japan, whereas we previously had seen the west side when we lived in Fukui before coming out to Tokyo.

Nebuta Matsuri (Nebuta festival)

In Aomori prefecture (the furthest north you can get on the main island of Japan (Honshu) without enter Hokkaido) they have a special festival once a year where they have huge floats made of bamboo frames covered in Japanese paper, perhaps similar to an elegant form of paper mache.

The floats are on wheels and are moved by people power. The float is lit from inside, and as the festival takes place in the evening, they really stand out. Many floats depict samurai or other warriors, royalty or esteemed animals like dragons or tigers. Below is a warrior on a horse. You can see the bamboo frame on the horse’s neck and the warriors arm.

Dinosaurs

We found some dinosaur bones in our backyard the other day. We dug them out, assembled them and sold them to a museum and now we’re rich. The probability of us finding dinosaur bones is about the same as of us having a backyard in Japan.

Mountain climbing/hiking (Mount Komagatake in Nagano prefecture)

We were told that this mountain was a good hike, which is true up until the plateau, but to actually get to the top, there’s a fair bit of climbing required. Here, Yuuko is having difficulty climbing, but she’s bearing with it. She was brave enough to take one hand off the rocks, but couldn’t quite muster a full smile. Just like when we climbed Mount Fuji, she didn’t give up, despite the fact that she wasn’t feeling well due to mountain sickness.

Even after reaching the top (choujou) of the mountain, there’s still the matter of reaching the very top (teppen) of the mountain. It’s just a few more metres, but it’s an awfully small place, and if you can’t balance yourself in the wind, it’s an awfully long way down.

From the top of Mount Komagatake, the easily recognizable shape of Mount Fuji can be seen in the distance. Fuji is ~600m higher.

After the climb, partway through the hike back down from the plateau. Behind us is the chunk of rock one must climb to get to the actual top of the mountain.

Here’s my trademark sunburn after the fact. (When will I learn?) It got worse over the few days after, but fortunately, with Yuuko’s nursing, it healed up in a week and a half and I never became the monster I did in Sabae.