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I have not written for a long time, not that I did not have anything to say but I was too busy at work (and it’s getting worse) but also not in the right mood to write. Well, did you ever had that feeling that when something goes wrong, everything else will follow the same way till you are broken down? Or maybe it is just that something is wrong and you cannot appreciate anything for a while…
So yeah, the couple of past weeks in Japan have been quite disappointing. The end of my stay in Japan is nearing fast and I still wanted to do and visit so many places and there is no time to spend thinking of what is the next destination. So as I woke up on a Sunday morning, I decided to go to Ise; Ise is not far from where I live, I mean speaking in Japanese distances… it is still a 3 hours ride by train. By the way, why did I choose Ise? Because I had that picture of two bounded rocks, with sacred rope in the water, in my mind. But in fact, Ise is known for two famous shrines, or should I say 1 shrine, Ise Jingu, divided into 2, the inner (Naiku) and the outer (Geku) shrines keeping 2 of the 3 symbols of Japan’ emperor family. As a matter of fact, everything that is sacred has to be protected right? so are the shrines, hidden by wooden walls; you can barely see the roofs… and the artifacts? do not even think about it. Eventhough those shrines are among the most venerated in Japan, I felt I was wandering in the countryside (yeah Ise is pretty drab) with a walk in the forest to see trees and shrines’ roof.
Funny story, I met one NEC researcher a few weeks ago and he said he was from Ise, which at the moment I thought it was nice. Now I understans why he said it was not really a good place! Even Ishikiri, the place I am living in, is more exciting than Ise.
Alright, it was rainy, the sightseeing was not extraordinary but I did not see the 2 rocks yet! There are just a train station away so let’s head for Futami and the Meoto-iwa! It was not raining that hard but being on the coastline, wind was pretty strong so you get soaked anyway. And there they are… (Ise is lost in the middle of nowhere but Futami is even more lost than that) the 2 wedded rocks… wait… aren’t they supposed to be bigger? I was cheated again, the illusion of 2 big rocks comes from the size of the tori on one of them, a dawrf would not be able to go through it! Well you got the idea, an optical illusion, really dissapointing.
So this was my last sightseeing in Japan, I wish I could go to Hokkaido but money is getting short and I have met new friends so I am gonna spend some time with them before i leave.
Oh I almost forgot, I went back to Hakone to see Mount Fuji but guess what… yeah clouds were in the party again! But being in Tokyo for a week-end and meet friends there was fun though.
Pictures will come shortly…
Mid August is the usual holiday’s season in Japan. Especially as Obon is taking place, many Japanese go back to their hometown to welcome their ancestors. This is for the traditional part… Obon’s week is probably the busiest week in Japan or maybe just after the Golden Week and every single hotel is for sure booked a long time ago in every touristy city. Luckily I decided to take my vacation one week before the rush and got to several beautiful places in Japan. The schedule was pretty tight but we (note that “we” does not refer to Sébastien and me this time) managed to enjoy the sightseeing despite the many hours we spent in trains, subways, boat, bus and other transportation.
We started at Osaka obviously on Saturday 4th, I have been in Osaka for 4 months already but never visited the castle, Ōsaka-jō. No need to say it twice, we headed there and even if the castle looks beautiful from the outside, also considering the surroundings, once inside we were a bit disappointed. The 7 floors were rebuild as a museum and not much from the original interior were kept but it is still nice to have a idea of how this castle and the surrounding evolved through the years. And as every tall building in Japan, you can enjoy a panoramic view of the city (which looks endless except for the mountains far far away and the sea).
For the following days, we took the shinkansen (probably the most convenient way to travel in Japan, I wish there was shinkansen everywhere) for Tokyo and stayed there for 3 days. Of course you can spend years in that city and still have something you did not visit, but as simple tourists we just got a glimpse of it. (After all, it is the purpose of this blog right?) Also as far as I remember, I did not write a second article on Tokyo when I went there 3 months ago so I will take the chance to show a couple of pictures I took in addition to some new one. Osaka is known to be the city for food, but as a poor student I never tried the numerous delicious restaurants there. However as a tourist who wants to experience good food in Japan, we tried as many restaurants as we could during those couple of days. Maybe I should not stay a poor trainee once back in Osaka… it was so good!
The next stop of our journey was initially Mount Fuji, as I had that crazy idea and wanted to climb it (and come back in one day). It is for sure possible but many guides warn that it is not an easy walk and you should be prepared beforehand… which we were not unfortunately. Giving up that idea, I still wanted to see Mount Fuji and a good place to see it is to go to Hakone. About 1 hour from Tokyo and located at 1000m in altitude, the place is famous for its onsen and the sulphur scented hot water that comes out of the mountain. We were just 1 hour late as by the time we reached a high and god spot to see Mount Fuji, an gigantic cloud chose to take a nap up there before we could admire the sight. This is too bad as we spent hours in train, bus and rope way to get there. The good thing is that after 3 days in the Tokyo excitement, a walk in the mountains we nothing else than nature, the strong smell of sulphur (and a load of tourists…), was truly pleasant and cleared our mind.
Back to Osaka for the night, the next day is for Hiroshima! Travelling is exhausting and we got up a bit late and hit Hiroshima only around 6pm… not to say that it was quite hard to get a hotel or ryokan just for one night as the holidays are very close and something like 62 years ago on August 6, around 8 o’clock a tragedy took place in Hiroshima. You bet there have been ceremonies and people attending them. The city was not the main reason of our visit in itself, we walk around the (in)famous Genbaku Dome and the Peace Memorial Park and though the hope living in a world free of nuclear weapon is honourable, it sounds a bit unrealistic when you see the damage that occurred during the last century in the city. Also wandering at night near the dome, somehow gave me the goose and I felt uncomfortable.
The clou of the journey was Miyajima, supposedly one the three most beautiful views in Japan! And indeed it is wonderful! From Hiroshima, you go to Miyajimaguchi where you take a ferry for the island and enjoy the sight as the ferry is getting closer to the famous tori (or shrine gate). The place is delightful when the sun goes down as the water will have covered part of the coast thanks to the tides. We did not stay long enough to see that as we had a long road back to Osaka but we stayed long enough to see the tori in the water. Be warned that the deers on the island are much friendlier than their relatives in Nara, and they will not hesitate to empty your pockets, bags if you leave them unwatched for a second, in search of food or whatever that can be chewed.
Seven days passed already and this is the last week-end but no resting time! Months ago I booked tickets for the Summer Sonic Festival. A two day festival held both in Tokyo and Osaka at the same time, featuring lots of international artists as well as Japanese ones. In the heat of Osaka and a radiant sun, we enjoyed live performance of Rooney, The Fratelis, The Pillows, Kasabian and The Arctic Monkeys but there were many more artists. It is just to hard to choose among them as they were not less than 6 stages and performance started from 10am till 9pm. The incredible thing with Japanese organization is how they keep everything clean and no trouble happen… except of course for the transportation but when you think about it, thousands of thousands of people are not easy to move from one place to another in a short amount of time. That was the only bemol of the festival and I am pretty sure many people missed the last train back to Osaka’s downtown.
The journey ended in Kyoto but again, tired to the bones by the festival we were lazy and got there at 4pm… unfortunately every museum, shrine, temple and other touristy place close around 5pm. Bus are convenient in Kyoto as they go pretty much everywhere but it takes time to go through the city… luckily we arrived at the Golden Pavilion at 4.55pm and got the chance to see at least one of Kyoto’s monument, though it is a quick visit.
Initially written for the already too long previous post, I decided to separate the two as wanted to write more about my week-end trip to Koyasan. Right after the Summer Cooling Evening on Friday, I decided I will go the origins of the Shingon Buddhist school, namely Koyasan. Located at about 1000m above the sea level, the place is surrounded by 8 mountain, as it should be to reflect the lotus flower, a symbol of Buddhism.
I left my place on Saturday morning as if I would go to work, except I aimed at a more peaceful and resting place south from Osaka, in the Wakayama prefecture.
The city was founded by Kōbō-Daishi (弘法大師) in 818 A.D., it is known as the headquarter of the Shingon (or True Word) school of Buddhism. The place features a lot of temples and pagodas but one of the main interest lies below the ground… in fact the cemetery next to Kōbō-Daishi’s mausoleum is gigantic! The reason is that many people are buried here in the wait of Kōbō-Daishi’s awakening, in the hope to reach the Nirvana. I am not quite sure of people are really buried here but at least, believers buried hair or bone to be somehow here for the awakening. Also, among the tombs many monuments were erected in memory of famous historical persons such as Oda Nobunaga, Uesugi Kenshin, Mitsuhide Akechi and so on. There are probably thousands and thousands of tombs and my kanji reading disability prevent me from knowing if I was taking a picture of Oda Nobunaga’s monument or a probably wealthy guy. Still, the cemetery is surrounded by a pine forest so once you entered it, you really feel like you are somewhere out of the real world, the nature is taking over the man’s buildings. During the day, you can still see the sunlight when dusk is here, there is an eerie atmosphere taking place and it would be perfectly normal to see ghosts or spirits wandering at night… I got bitten by mosquitoes pretty bad when walking through it at dusk but maybe it was just the inhabitants playing hide and seek with me…
Koyasan being 3 hours away from Osaka by train, I decided I would stay for the night here, I mean, not in the cemetery but at one of the many temples offering a place to sleep and 2 meals (not for free of course). As I did not visit everything around here, I thought it would be the best choice anyway. Speaking English does not help to book a room for the night so I had to do with my crappy Japanese and I apologize (as any Japanese would do) for being hard to understand, but we managed to do it.
Of course monks do not eat meat or fish, so the meal is essentially made of vegetables and tofu and it was truly delicious. I recommend to anyone who has the opportunity to stay in shukubo, to do it; monks are really kind and careful persons. Part of the experience is the Morning Prayer which you are expected to attend at 6 in the morning. Normally, you would have to sit in seiza position but it is acceptable if you take a more comfortable position if you are not used to it. Well, let’s try to do it the right way, I was telling myself. I could not feel my legs anymore after 30 minutes, so I had to switch to another position and hopefully I did because the prayer was still going for another 30 minutes. After a good breakfast, it is time to hit the road of temples again, it was a pleasant and replenishing stay though it is a bit commercialized as I ended up with a souvenir from the temple as I signed out.
I am using a slideshow again for a couple of pictures but you can also find all the the pictures for this pilgrimage on the following url
Je sais bien que vous attendez un article sur Tokyo et ça viendra prochainement. En fait, une partie est quand même de Tokyo dans cet article. Lors de la pause repas, mes collègues parlaient d’un bâtiment à Tokyo appelé “maru biru” ou Building rond (ou en forme cylindre), évidemment Osaka possède aussi un tel bâtiment qui a vraiment une forme de tube. Un des collègues donc, voulais comparer avec celui de Toyko (Osaka et Tokyo ont apparemment quelques rivalités…), qu’elle ne fut pas la surprise de mon collègue en découvrant que le bâtiment tokyoïte est tout à fait normal, carré et droit. Probablement une dérive de la langue japonaise qui sait.
Bref, le propos de cet article est donc d’avoir un aperçu de l’architecture moderne japonaise. Vous avez pû voir déjà à 2 reprises l’Umeda Sky Building, voyons voir ce qu’il me reste dans mon album…
Si l’architecture n’a rien de particulier en Suisse (qui sait peut-être le Learning Center à l’EPFL changera un peu le paysage motonone…), au Japon nombreux sont les bâtiments aux allures futuristes et aux formes arrondies. Ils ne se fondent pas toujours bien avec leur environement, mais ils ont l’avatage d’attirer l’oeil et une petite photo par-ci par-là. Le quartier de Roppongi à Tokyo rassemble un petit nombre de structures aux formes non-conventionnelles et essayer de les avoir toutes sur un cliché, donne l’impression que ces monstres de verre, bois et métal vont se rentrer dedans ! Omote Sando aussi vaut le coup d’oeil, centre commercial construit sur l’emplacement d’anciens appartmenents datant de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, comme beaucp de construction bien que haut, il faut aussi compter les nombreux sous-sol… l’avenue sur laquelle se trouve ce complexe est aussi appelé “Les champs Elysées” de Tokyo, de fait de nombreux cafés ou boutiques portent des noms français (probablement choisis aléatoirement dans un dictionnaire…)
De Osaka, je vous propose le centre commercial de Namba Parks, tout juste réouvert pour le mois de mai. En plus de proposer une quantité de magasin pour y faire son shopping sur 5 étages et 2 étages de restaurants, je n’ai pas encore compris je crois comment ne pas me perdre dedans…les allées en forme de vague et les transversales rendent aisées la perte de repère.
Lors de mon séjour à Tokyo, j’ai pris un grand nombre de photos, cependant je ne pense pas que ça soit possible de tout mettre dans un seul article… le problème est donc de trouver un thème pour regrouper les différents clichés pris le temps d’un week-end. Ainsi, pour ce premier article sur Tokyo, je vais me contenter des photos prises dimanche.
On a beau être dimanche, contrairement à la Suisse où il n’y a rien à faire le dimanche (à part la grasse matinée), au Japon les flux d’énergie ne s’arrêtent pas. Au programme Natsu Basho (ou plutôt matchs de sumo au Ryogoku Kokugikan), cosplay sur Harajuku et performances artistiques à Yoyogi koen. Il y a bien aussi le Temple de Yoyogi, mais il ne cadre pas spécialement avec le reste de l’article. Carte et pas journalier des métros, appareil photo (et nos valises puisque nous rentrons sur Osaka le soir), en route pour cette journée.
L’esprit du sumo n’attend pas. C’est à 8h30 que nous nous pointons devant le Ryogoku, l’arène du sumo à Tokyo, pensant qu’une foule serait déjà sur place pour acheter un billet le jour du tournoi. Que nenni ! Bien sûr nous savions que les débutants et les divisions inférieurs prenaient part à la joute le matin et que les champions ne viendraient se donner quelques baffes qu’en fin d’après-midi mais notre emploi du temps chargé nous a fait venir ici en premier lieu. Pas que le Ryogoku était désert, mais presque, ce qui n’est pas plus mal car nous avons pu déambuler un peu partout pour prendre des photos pendant que les aspirants sumos s’en donnent à coeur joie sur le dojo. La technique des rikishi n’a rien de spectaculaire, mais au moins nous avons pu assister au rituel répétitif avant chaque combat (Eurosport ne jugeant pas utile de retransmettre entièrement chaque combat, et ils ont raison au fond), je dirai que c’est assez particulier quand même ce chant pour annoncer les lutteurs. Après un peu plus de 2 heures, un changement de division et l’achat de porte-clés souvenir, nous décidons de mettre fin à cet échauffement pour nous diriger à l’autre bout de la ville pour des activités tout aussi exotiques.
Harajuku et sa place pour les cosplayers. Si l’intérêt de la foule à notre arrivée se porte sur un artiste de rue faisant la statue vivante, il retourne vite à la gent féminine venue se faire prendre en photo dans leurs tenues home made (et non pas home maid, comme des personnes pourraient le penser…). Oui j’ai dit gent féminine car le cosplay n’a apparemment que des adeptes parmi les demoiselles, vous remarquerez que le style est essentiellement gothic lolita. Heureusement pas de Naruto, Bleach et autres consorts de la sorte ici, ces derniers se réservant sûrement les conventions manga. Quoi qu’il en soit, il y a aussi une autre population sur cette place, les touristes ! Il y a d’ailleurs probablement plus de touristes ici que de Japonais, peut-être est-ce pour cela aussi qu’un groupe de « Free huggers » se sont placés sur cette place. Malheureusement, ils n’intéressent pas la foule qui passe en jetant un rapide coup d’oeil. Il faut aussi admettre que ce groupe de personnes n’est pas très expansif et l’accoutrement peut effrayer de prime abord (je serai inquiet de recevoir un câlin d’une personne accoutrée en pseudo gothique ou d’un mec déguisée en maid…). Le soleil est à son plus haut et l’ombre est rare, il est donc temps de se diriger vers l’ombre des arbres du Yoyogi koen (ou Yoyogi Park).
En ce lieu aussi, la foule déambule et pour cause. D’une part, il fait beau alors les familles, amis s’adonnent à l’activité du dimanche, pique-nique au parc, d’autre part les allées du parc voient se produire différents groupes de personnes qu’ils soient rock’n roll attitude, skaters ou music band en recherche d’un coup de pouce, tous sont là pour exprimer leur passion aux yeux et oreilles des passants. Il arrive parfois que la proximité des artistes crée une cacophonie assourdissante qui au final annihile les performances de chacun malgré les hurlements du chanteur dans le micro. Ce qui n’empêche pas les groupies de sautiller de joie devant leur groupe favori.
Vous l’aurez compris, tout est permis ici ! Et voici la galerie pour vous donner un aperçu !
Japan is probably one the most developed country in technology, it is obvious everyday for me as I am working in research center on Computer & Communication Innovation. Nevertheless I think I did not give you a sense of techno-life in Japan so far. Here it is then!
If you are familiar to this blog, you may remember some pictures of Umeda Sky Building, a high construction on which you can enjoy a great sight view of Osaka city. Well I went back lately but at night this time. Unfortunately the pictures are too bad to be shown (not enough light and pretty blurred too). Anyway, we had a closer look at some posters inside the building and they were all on high place and construction throughout the world. Surprisingly, we learnt that the Umeda Sky Building was built according to an airspace launcher. Well it has some similarities in fact and they also say that the Floating Garden, shaped as a ring, was an idea for a space city of 10 km diameter. Japanese have crazy ideas but that must be why they are so innovative also. The view was exquisite and seeing all the lights and even cars and trains moving without seeing the ground was like being in space or at least somewhere above…
Another topic I would like to talk today is the dimension games are taking here. As most of you know, Japanese love games and especially video games, so we went to an entertainment plaza, called “Konami Land”. There are many of these in the city but not as big as I had thought. After spending some coins shooting at bad guys in Time Crisis 4 I guess… we had a look at other people. I knew Japanese were truly fonds of cards games but I did not expect to be played in such a place. So like in some famous cartoons, you can slide you cards in a machine and then play them against other players through the screen. You also move them on the board and the game recognized the move and act appropriately on screen, truly interesting.
Last but not least, we were flabbergasted by pods. There are actually cabins you seat in and take commands of a virtual mecha, those of you who ever wanted to be inside an Eva or a Mobile Gundam Suit, you should definitely try someday one of those. You face a huge screen, making like a 360 degrees view of you surroundings and guide you mecha against other participants. I am probably sure they embedded sounds and motion feeling but we could not try as people were lining to play with them. Also note, that it is played by 2 teams of 4 players and each pod is connected to other team members.
La version française est maintenant disponible sur la page suivante, bonne lecture !
Today is the end of the famous Golden Week in Japan which is not a full holidays week but contains many of them:
April 29
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Greenery Day, or Nature Day (みどりの日, Midori no hi), until 2006
Shōwa Day (昭和の日, Shōwa no hi), from 2007
May 3
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Constitution Memorial Day (憲法記念日, Kenpō kinenbi)
May 4
- People’s Day, or Citizen’s Day (国民の休日, Kokumin no kyūjitsu), until 2006
Greenery Day, or Nature Day (みどりの日, Midori no hi) (from 2007)
May 5
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Children’s Day (こどもの日, Kodomo no hi), also known as Boys’ Day (端午の節句, Tango no sekku)
Luckily for me, most of the big companies, and NEC is one of them, set May 1st and 2nd as holidays as well so their employees can return back to their home and travel with their family. Home is a bit far in my case and there is still a lot to do in the Kansai area so let’s go for it!
One of my very best friend (who is Swiss also) happens to be in Japan for some times too so we decided he will come to Osaka and we will visit Nara then. We also thought to visit Kyoto but the Golden Week is terribly busy and we sticked to Nara but Kyoto will show up soon hopefully.
I have to warn you about tourist sightseeing in Japan, every single place is the number one in oldest, highest, widest or any other superlative that could come into mind, and if not first at least second in the Kansai/Kanto area or city… So to be complete here is a little description of Nara and our visit!
Japan’s first real capital (in 710), Nara, is the number two tourist attraction in Kansai after Kyoto. Eight sites in Nara are designated World Heritage sites by the UNESCO, they are considered od immeasurable historical value and are fortunately open to public viewing.
Although brief, the Nara period (75 years) was extraordinarily vigorous in its absorption of influence from China, a process that laid the foundations of Japanese culture and civilisation. The adoption of Buddhism as a national religion made a lasting impact on government, arts, literature and architecture. That’s it for the cultural aspects, let’s head to the visit for now.
Nara is not a big city, moreover, there are many temples and shrines and a huge park but the visit could be made in one day. The main site to visit id the Tôdai-Ji, inside the temple is an enormous bronze Buddha (Daibutsu) and it is really huge. For the records, it is 16 meters high, consisting of 437 tonnes of bronze ans 130 kg of gold. Nevertheless, the building itself is quite impressive, it is said to be the largest wooden building in the world, though it was rebuilt 3 times, it is nowaday only two thirds of its original size but still unbelievable. Oh yeah ! By the way, being at the right place the right time may become my speciality… so we were at the Tôdaiji on May 2, which is when Shomu Emperor (who decided to build the temple) Festival is held. About 300 people acting monks, bushi, and other historical characters proceed to the Great Buddha Hall. It was truly interesting to see all those replica costumes, colorful!
Next is the park (Nara kôen) with many shrines and stones lantern along the path up hill. Lot of the fun in the park is to look at other people buying shikasembei (deer biscuits) and feed the one of the many many “sacred” deer. Those animals are not stupid and wait in line in front of the shops to get their biscuits and even chasing you in you happened to have some on you but did not give it all.
During our way through the park we also enjoyed a cup of tea in one of the tea house and take time to contemplate the peaceful surroundings. We also had a “philosophical” talk on the crazy number of the lanterns and how it should be long to lit them all… we came to the conclusion that it was obviously necessary to be seen properly during those sombre time when assassination was common… (in fact there are parallel paths which are completely dark…)
It was an enriching cultural day, way out of the technolized Osaka city, unfortunately it was a bit grayish and it even rained so we did not stay longer in Nara to get every single shrines there but it is definitely one the most beautiful and calm area I have seen so far, and the numerous tourists were part of the experience too.
10 days now that I am in Japan and I have to admit many things are different here compared to Switzerland or even the USA. It’s like I kind of lost my marks at the beginning but have to deal with how it is here. One of the most dangerous thing for me is to remember that people are driving on the left-hand side of the road. Being a walker and frequently crossing the streets, I have been looking many times in the wrong direction and seeing the road is clear, almost stepping on the street but then realizing a car is coming. Watch out ! I am usually waiting for the lights to turn green of course but then it is always a surprise to see a car making a turn and coming to you from the side you did not expect it to come… it’s a strange feeling and I try to cross as fast as possible.
Related to the fact they drive on the left in Japan, I am not comfortable with taking the bus to go to the office, I am pretty sure I will be scared of seeing cars coming to us from the right… that’s why I prefer to have a 30 minutes walk on Ikomasan. (still it may be truly warm in Summer and air conditioned buses may appear convenient…)
By the way, getting to work is not as bad as I thought it would be. Prior to coming I had in mind crowded trains with all the salary-men and other people and being impatient as the train is 5 seconds late. This is true but hopefully for me I am taking the trains in the opposite direction fro, the crowd ! People come from suburbs and work in the city (Osaka in my case), but NEC’s laboratories are located in the country, so I take the train from the city toward the country, which is truly appreciable after work as I can sit and rest during the way back to Osaka.
Finally, speaking of work, I am not used to the Japanese work hours yet. Officially we work from 8:30 am to 5:15 pm with 1 hour for lunch, which is fine for me and even getting there earlier won’t bother me. The reality is different, most of my colleagues come at 10:00 am and probably leave around 9:00 pm and they only take a 20 minutes break for lunch… I am not sure if I can fit in that schedule, I am an early bird and after 7:00 pm, I like to rest. I made the effort to stay one extra hour everyday and it is still uncomfortable to leave when everybody is still working but I get my work done I am not the kind staying doing nothing. And unlike most of them I still have to buy or cook diner as I am not married yet.
Today’s gallery features Umeda Building, which is 150 meters high, if you make abstract of trees and the sky, it is hard to tell where is the top from the bottom… there also some shots from the top of it, at least you have a sight-view from Osaka, hopefully there is the bay on one side and Ikomasan on the other to delimit the city otherwise it would spread out on kilometers ! I have been asked many times about cherry trees, I just arrived a bit late but was able to take some pictures so enjoy and see you next time !
Vous avez pu voir l’intérieur de mon appart mais je pense que vous aimeriez bien savoir aussi ce qu’il y a autour… et bien il y a la station de métro à moins de 100m ce qui est toujours pratique pour se déplacer (j’ai des amis qui n’en ont pas à moins d’un km…), une boulangerie où je vais acheter mon petit-déjeuner chaque matin, 2 combinis (convenience store) ouverts 24/7, on ne peut plus sans passer ! Et plein de petits restaurants ou take-away que j’essaierai au fur et à mesure. Ca c’est donc ce qui est juste autour de chez moi.
Ce matin, je me suis dit qu’il serait bien de connaître un plus loin le quartier. Je suis donc allé me promener en direction de 2 portiques que j’avais aperçu un soir, sans pour autant trouver de temple ou quoique ce soit. Et bien ce matin, le temple apparaît après les 2 portiques ! Il s’agit en fait du Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine et coup de chance ce week-end c’est le Ishikiri Tsurugiya Shrine Festival ! Pour information, ce temple est situé sur un des flancs de la montagne Ikoma (Ikomasan), qui est une montagne très appréciée des Japonais. Ce temple est familier des Japonais depuis les temps anciens car il abrite une divinité (O-hyakudo-ishi) qui guérit des tumeurs. Ainsi aujourd’hui des milliers de personnes sont venues au temple pour y faire leurs offrandes (monétaires) et recevoir les bonnes grâces de la divinité. Rituels auxquels je me suis aussi essayé. D’abord l’offrande (une pièce qu’elle quelle soit), ensuite un frappe 2 fois des mains, on prie et encore 2 frappes. Ah oui et on fait sonner la cloche aussi !!!
Ca fait un peu maigre pour un festival non ? Oui mais c’est sans compter les dizaines et les dizaines de lieux où l’ont peut faire ses offrandes et recommencer le rituel ! On peut en faire pour les tortues, les statues, les bouddhas et tout et tout ! Et tant qu’à faire, on monte aussi un bout de Ikomasan pour s’élever (et se délester de petites monnaies pour les marchands de nourriture, de bibelots, les autels, les moines itinérants et les voyants pour s’assurer un avenir radieux). Ceux à qui l’altitude ne convient pas, peuvent rester autour du temple et écrire leurs voeux sur des plaquettes de bois (achetées au préalable au temple) ou attacher à un arbre la prédiction (à 100 yens), allumer un cierge ou tourner autour de deux piliers en comptant le nombre de tours effectués sur un “chapelet” de papier…
La religion au Japon est curieuse mais ça m’a fait plaisir de voir le festival. Je suis sceptique quand à la valeur de l’argent ici mais au moins ils y croient donc ce n’est pas si mal. Pour ma part j’ai fait mes offrandes au temple, à un bouddha, à 3 pierres et aux tortues. Et pour bien faire les choses, j’ai été végétarien aujourd’hui aussi… Cela m’a aussi permis de découvrir les petites boutiques sur le flan de montagne où je pourrai acheter fruits et légumes (les combinis n’en ont hélas pas), que les takoyakis (“crêpes” au poulpe) sont typiques de la région d’Osaka et il devrait aussi y avoir une source d’eau chaude qui se cache dans les hauteurs (je la trouverai la prochaine fois !). Voici la galerie habituelle.
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