staircase to heaven

So this past weekend (Sunday and Monday), I went to Amanohashidate with a group of friends - 3 other English teachers like myself (Brian, Kaori, Genevieve) plus our generous host, a Japanese salary man. Amanohashidate... what a mouthful. (quickie pronounciation guide for non-Japanese speakers: ah-ma-no-ha-she-dah-tey)

My friend Brian, in his almostly cliche-esque friendly Hawaiian way, invited me.

Brian: You should come with me and some friends on this trip to Amanohashidate.
Gar: What time are you guys going?
Brian: We're leaving at 7:30.
Gar: At night?
Brian: No, the morning.
Gar: ...

Fortunately for me, I pulled my lazy self outta bed on Sunday and went.  I blame God and my conscience.

Wake up, ya bum.


.:.


Sunday

Sunday morning started out a bit rough... mostly on the account that I didn't go to sleep early like I planned. It was a Kaori's birthday, so a group of friends (including me) stayed out all night singing karaoke. I stumbled home at about 5:30AM, just enough time to take a short nap, pack my gear, and head back again to the train station.

Everybody met up at Shukugawa station (close to Ashiya, where I work) at 7:30AM. Brian's friend, Hajime, picked us up and we were off.

It took about a two and half hour drive to northern Kyoto prefecture, but when we arrived, there was this.



Sunny skies, clean air, and a clean ocean... I was instantly happy I came on the trip.



I tried not to think about the crazy North Korean dictator being only around five to six hundred miles away.



It was hot, so everybody went into the water to do some snorking. By everybody, I mean to say, everybody except me. I suck at swimming, so I mostly just floated sank in the water. I blame a childhood of traumatic summer swim lessons.



Still, I didn't feel crabby at all.



Hajime and Brian taking a break.

After about a couple of hours of swimming, relaxing, and a bento lunch, we all piled back into the car for a drive to our weekend accommodations. Hajime works for a fairly large Japanese car insurance company, so one of the side benefits is that the company owns a condo in Amanohashidate that employees can periodically rent and borrow.

When I asked Hajime if ever comes to Amanohashidate with his co-workers, he responded with a laugh and a short reply in slightly-accented English.

"No. They are all too hard-working and boring."

Haha... works for me.



Genevieve, me, Kaori. If it looks like I'm squinting, it's because I am. The sun was too damn bright for my Chinese eyes.





Beautiful. Shouldn't water always be clean?

We arrived at the condo, swam in the pool, and played some tennis. After tennis, there was some more showering, and then soaking in an onsen (Japanese hot spring). After a whole day of water activities, I felt:

1) Clean.
2) Wrinkly.



Left side, front to back: Gar, Hajime.
Right side, front to back: Gene, Kaori, Brian.

Dinnertime was at a local donburi restaurant. It was small, but the staff and decor had a nice, friendly atmosphere that you don't often get being in the city.

After dinner, it was back to the condo, more karaoke, cards, drinks, and a foot operation - Kaori had gotten several rock splinters in her foot, so they had to be removed via needles and tweezers. Everybody played part - I, the surgeon; Gene, the tweezer-user; Brian, whipping boy (everytime it hurt, Kaori squeezed and/or hit Brian); and Hajime, light man. Hooray for group effort.

I fell asleep shortly after.


.:.


Monday



I woke up, and enjoyed the view from the 14th floor. Blang, blang... so this is what it's like to be a baller.



The condo.

After some early morning breakfast, we borrowed bicycles from the hotel and biked to a viewing area where we could see Amanohashidate from the mountains. It took about 30 minutes, but it was easy ride... pretty flat. Unlike Lance Armstrong, I still possess my jewels and multiple-hour bike rides on a narrow seat "crushing the kids" aren't too appealing.



At the base of the mountain was this temple. I took a quick peek in and some photos.

About a block behind the temple was the route up to the mountain viewing area. There were two choices: train or chair lift. Guess which one I picked.



Once I got to the top, I was a bit disappointed that the sky was a little cloudy, but the view was still fantastic. Amanohashidate is ranked supposedly as one of the 3 best views in Japan, and it lived up to the hype.




The word hashi in Amanohashidate means "bridge". The narrow strip of land with the beaches on its right in the photo is the "bridge", which coincidentally, is also the route we biked through.



Obligatory group shot.

Where is the "bridge" going to? According to traditional Japanese belief, if you look at the view upside down, the "bridge" appears to be going up in to the sky - hence the name Amano (heaven's) : hashi (bridge) : date (ascending/upward).

So how do you see the landscape upside down?

I'm glad you asked.


...

...

...




The Japanese guy who named the place must have really like sake. Those crazy monks.

After some ice cream, it was time for us to leave.



Back down the mountain.

Before leaving Amanohashidate, we visited one more beach by the condo for a quick swim and shower.

It was a good trip and occurred to me suddenly again, that I've been in Japan a whole year. Coming out Amanohashidate, there was a lot of beautiful scenery, farmland, and my favorite... the ocean. Nature naturally reminds me of the One who created it all.

So on the beach, I decided to build a tribute to Him for the blessings of the past year.



I didn't use 12 stones, but I hope He doesn't mind. There were a lot of rocks in the water, and I found the exercise of building it to actually be quite therapeutic.

We left Amanohashidate around 4:30PM. We arrived back in Kansai about 6:15PM. For a guy who sells car insurance, Hajime sure drives pretty fast.




.:.


Funniest part of the trip:

Multi-lingual confusion and hilariousness. Brian is happa (half-Japanese & from Hawai'i). Kaori is nikkei (Japanese Canadian & from Vancouver BC). Hajime is Japanese, but his English is very good (TOIEC score: 700+). I'm me.

Kaori is perfectly fluent in Japanese and English. Brian speaks a lot of Japanese because his Mom does. I speak some Japanese 'cause of the host fam.

Imagine the confusion of the Japanese people in Amanohashidate when they ask us questions in Japanese and we answer in Japanese, but talk amongst ourselves in English.

Asian Americans/Canadians... the cultural bastards of the world. Mono-ethnic and mono-cultural peoples of the world: We're here just to add confusion to your lives.


.:.


Random:

Fellow traveler Hipstomp is trucking around Seattle.
posted by G at 4:03 AM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33