A day on Naoshima.

https://davidbilla.net/a-day-on-naoshima/

#Japan #art #Naoshima

Dieses Motorboot auf einem Hügel auf der Insel Naoshima, in der Nähe des Lee-Ufan-Museums °passt da nicht rein°. Es ist wirklich sehr weit oben auf einer Bergkuppe, was das Foto nur bedingt abbildet...

#FotoVorschlag #Japan #Naoshima

°Alles was Fühler hat° wie diese kunstbeflissene Gottesanbeterin im Chichu Art Museum auf Naoshima.
Sie nutzt eine kreisrunde Öffnung in Tadao Andos Betonarchitektur.

#FotoVorschlag #Japan #Mantis #Naoshima #TadaoAndō #insect #architecture

I always find it interesting when most people ignore that Naoshima is also this. #Japan #Naoshima

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:eucicbsmjah6ppi23hobhid3/post/3mbsb7rppec27

Teshima Art Museum is a must-visit in Japan.

It doesn’t sound like much - a concrete dome with two oval ‘windows’ cut into it, but it is a profound experience.

Rather than you looking out at nature, nature seems to look in at you.

https://benesse-artsite.jp/art/teshima-artmuseum.html

#teshima #豊島美術館 #豊島 #日本🇯🇵 #Japan #Okayama #Naoshima #JapaneseArt #architecture #JapaneseArchitecture #ReiNaito #RyueNishizawa #内藤礼 #西沢立衛

#FotoVorschlag 'Dinge, die mit i beginnen, oder so aussehen'

Ich auf einer Insel.

#Naoshima #Japan #YayoiKusama

#FotoVorschlag 'Topfkuckerin'

"Setouchi #Paella - serviert mit Setouchi Zitrone. Die Zutaten werden in einer gußeisernen Pfanne gebraten und in der originalen hausgemachten Suppe gekocht."

#Naoshima #Lodge #Japan

Exploring Japan: A Family Adventure

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54900333351/in/album-72177720330082526

Waking up in Tokyo to the surreal sound of silence – no horns, no traffic snarls, just the gentle hum of millions of people getting around on foot, bike, and rail. That was our introduction to Japan and set the tone for the whole trip. We spent three weeks exploring Japan and fell in love with the trains, anime characters, charming shopping streets, and bidet toilets. This was the first overseas trip for our daughter, and she did an amazing job embracing the triumphs and challenges of traveling through a foreign country.

Our adventure took us through Tokyo, Kyoto, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Osaka with day-trips to Himeji, Naoshima, Miyajima, Nara, and Hakone. A small slice of the country, but we covered the main highlights. We loved every moment of it and left fulfilled but knowing we could have spent longer if it wasn’t for the reality of school and work. If you want more details about what we did on our trip, I wrote a daily trip diary here and have more photos on Flickr.

1. Family Highlights
2. Observations
3. Expenses

Family Highlights

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54849097652/in/album-72177720330082526

Me:

1. teamLab Biovortex in Kyoto and teamLab Planets in Tokyo were out of this world. Pictures and words don’t do it justice, you have to just experience it.
2. Cycling the Kibiji Bike Trail was a surprise highlight. We anticipated that the Shimanami Kaido would wow us, but this lesser known route near Okayama really was the stand out with its family friendly bike paths and less touristy sights. We saw people harvesting rice and discovered a temple with a buried ogre head where the legend of Momotaro originated.
3. I loved playing giant controller games at the Nintendo Museum and telling “when I was a kid” stories to Astrid about video games I played on the NES and Gameboy.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54840341862/in/album-72177720330082526

Astrid (Age 9):

1. Cat bus at the Studio Ghibli Museum; and the other kids-only experiences like the giant nets at the Hakone Open Air Museum.
2. Beckoning cats (maneki neko) at the Gotokuji Temple and the cat themed train that goes there.
3. Eating conveyor belt and train sushi, ramen, and so many onigiri.
4. Shopping for clothes and souvenirs, especially her onigiri sweater.
5. The Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima and the thousands of paper cranes.
6. Shibuya Crossing – how busy it was and all the tourists taking photos of us.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54875035118/in/album-72177720330082526

Emily:

1. Early morning temple visits when its peaceful out and not too crowded. It feels like going back in time.
2. Vibrant, pedestrian-only streets, so many little shops vying for your attention with quirky signs and statues. Osaka in particular had a lot of streets with unique offerings and character.
3. Hakone day trip to view Mt Fuji from a train, pirate ship, gondola, and cable car. But the real highlight was the Amazake Tea House which brought back memories of our previous adventures in Sikkim and Sapa.
4. Trying weird food & drinks like sparkling jelly plum wine, fruit vinegar juicebox, and konjac balls (the menu described it as “unusual and challenging”).

Observations

There are a lot of things I will remember about this trip. Most of my cherished memories are not of specific places we visited, although there were some memorable ones, but the overarching experiences we had throughout Japan.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54841331457/in/album-72177720330082526

My main takeaway from visiting Japan is how amazing the transport systems are. I knew the Shinkansen bullet trains were fast, but I didn’t appreciate how frequent and convenient they were. It’s 500 km between Osaka and Tokyo (similar to Montreal to Toronto) and trip is less than 2.5 hours on the train, downtown to downtown, with no security to clear, and with trains that leave every 5 minutes so you don’t need reservations. Just show up and jump on the next departing train. It’s amazing and so liberating.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54834357988/in/album-72177720330082526

In the cities, I was surprised by how little car traffic there is, especially in Tokyo. 37 million people and the vast majority don’t have a car. It was so interesting to see how the urban environment changes when you build a city around walking and public transit. Roads are narrower, the city is quieter, people are skinnier, streets are safer, and small retail stores are thriving. A big change from North America.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54880103754

One of the coolest parts of this trip was watching our 9-year-old daughter turn into a world traveler. We pushed her outside of her comfort zone and she rose to the occasion. It wasn’t always easy – there were tears after long days when we made her write in her journal. But for 3 weeks she kept up with us and had no problems with the long walking days, lack of routine, and culture shock. At the end of the trip, she didn’t even want to come home. I’m so proud of her for learning 20 Japanese phrases and using them in public, writing in her journal every night (she said it got easier after the first week), and embracing the independence Japanese society affords children. She loved going convenience store shopping for our breakfast by herself. I’m not sure what she’ll take away from this trip, but I hope it has a lasting positive impact on her.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54841458658/in/album-72177720330082526

There is so much culture, both old and new, in Japan. We did our best to immerse ourselves before the trip and learned a lot more while we were traveling. I was surprised by how pervasive anime characters are. I expected to find it in nerdy areas, thriving in subcultures, but it is very mainstream. Everywhere you look you’ll see characters from One Piece, Pokemon, Sanrio, Spy x Family, and countless other manga/anime series I didn’t recognize.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54880101404/in/album-72177720330082526

We spent 9 months planning for this adventure and all that work lead to a very smooth trip. We had a multi-tab spreadsheet with our rough itinerary and things to do each day, starred locations on Google Maps, and already booked the coveted Nintendo Museum and Studio Ghibli tickets months in advance. Emily did her usual amazing job of keeping us on track during the trip, ensuring we had a plan for the next day, including how to get around and what restaurants looked good. There was still moments of chaos when things didn’t go right, but adapting is part of the fun of traveling. We also got really lucky – the weather was awesome with warm temperatures, little rain, and perfect conditions for seeing a freshly snowed Mount Fuji on our day in Hakone.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54899239037

The food in Japan was good, but eating vegan required some planning – and my soy allergy made it extra difficult. We ate onigiris from the konbini every morning. Astrid is now obsessed. Our most common meals were ramen, udon and soba noodles, and Japanese curry. We ate surprisingly little sushi because the veggie options aren’t as good as in Vancouver. We relied heavily on Happy Cow to find vegan restaurants, but some of our best meals were from random little restaurants where we managed to order meat-free dishes (although we purposely didn’t ask too many questions about broths or seasonings).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54905023184/in/album-72177720330082526

Now that I’m back in Canada, I find myself missing a lot of the little things that made Japan special.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54880101399/in/album-72177720330082526

• Everyone is so patient and the culture of respect permeates everything. On public transit people talk in whispers. People line up calmly for everything and wait to cross the street even when there are no cars. It’s common to see cars, bikes, and pedestrians all sharing the same space and yet no one honks or rings their bell. The faster vehicles just wait to pass.
• Public washrooms are abundant and most toilets have fancy electronics. It took me a while to get used to heated seats and water sprayers, but I’m a convert now and want to upgrade our toilets at home.
• Public garbage cans are scarce, but the streets are amazingly clean. Everyone carries their litter in a bag until they get home. Japan burns most of its trash, which seems horrible but really isn’t any worse than the landfills that we have.
• Convenience stores (konbinis), like 7-Eleven, are everywhere, open 24-hours, and they always have fresh and tasty food like onigiri. In Kyoto, Tokyo, and Osaka our hotels often had 3 konbinis within a block.
• There is so much independence and responsibilities given to children. I was constantly impressed by the small school kids riding public transit alone.
• The price is the price. There are no hidden taxes or fees, no tipping, no haggling, and no upsell scams targeting tourists. I also liked that kids were charged 50% of the adult price for trains, public transit, and most attractions.
• I love all the vibrant shopping areas (shotengai) – car-free streets covered with glass roofs that are full of cute little shops. With Vancouver’s climate, they would be perfect here.
• Discovering and eating regional specialties, like yatsuhashi in Kyoto, okonomiyaki in Hiroshima, takoyaki in Osaka (the vegan kind because eating octopus is so wrong), and lemon-flavoured everything in Setoda.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/54850205454/in/album-72177720330082526

Expenses

Japan isn’t expensive but it isn’t cheap either. Our total trip expense for 3 people traveling for 3 weeks was $15,005.82 (or ¥1,560,125).

Notes:

• Our hotels averaged $330 a night in the big cities (Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka) and only $150/night in Okayama, Hiroshima, and Setoda.
• We saved $1800 on hotels (full price listed above) using vouchers from our life insurance.
• Food averaged out to around $40/person/day.
• Our most expensive dinners were only $80-85 for 3 people at the fancier restaurants.
• Our most expensive attraction was a ramen cooking class in Kyoto ($155 / ¥15,813) but that included dinner. TeamLab was almost as expensive at ¥11,659 / $114.30.
• Studio Ghibli Museum was ridiculously cheap – only $23 for 3 tickets (no wonder they’re so hard to get).
• We flew with ZipAir, which is bare-bones but is considerably cheaper than other airlines.

#backpacking #Hakone #Himeji #Hiroshima #Japan #Kyoto #Miyajima #Naoshima #Nara #Okayama #Osaka #Tokyo #tripReport

#Fotovorschlag 'gespiegelt'
Hiroshi Sugimoto Gallery: Time Corridors
#Naoshima #Japan, Oct 2024

Japan already has a couple of pumpkins on Naoshima that are more artistic than the great Halloween one that was airlifted in and disrupted Tokyo traffic yesterday.
https://benesse-artsite.jp/en/special2022/pumpkin.html
#pumpkin #YayoiKusama #Naoshima

... lots and lots of people are only going to #Naoshima and Teshima. Which is a bit silly as these are the two islands that have nothing really special during the Triennale. 🤷‍♂️

#Japan

I went to Shodoshima today. It's the same terminal as the one for #Naoshima. I was there 75' before the ferry for Naoshima and the line was... I don't know how to describe except "longer than I thought was possible." This year's #SetouchiTriennale is beyond insane, but only #Teshima and Naoshima really. The other islands are just a little bit more crowded than usual. It means that ⤵️

I went to Shodoshima today. It's the same terminal as the one for #Naoshima. I was there 75' before the departure time to Naoshima and the line was... I don't know how to describe except "longer than I thought was possible." This year's #SetouchiTriennale is beyond insane, but... ⤵️

only Teshima and #Naoshima really. The other islands are just a little bit more crowded than usual. It means lots and lots of people are only going to Naoshima and Teshima. Which is a bit silly as these are the two islands that have nothing really special during the Triennale. 🤷‍♂️ #Japan

#SetouchiTriennale update: Tonight, two ferries were running from #Naoshima to Takamatsu. The "Seto" and the "Naoshima" (that's the ferry's name). It's true that I hadn't seen the latter in a little while. Did it have a technical problem? No idea.

Anyway, yesterday, I heard of around 1,000 people waiting in line shortly before 5pm. Both ferries have a capacity of about 500 people, so I hope they could fit everyone in this time.

In any case, this is insane.

#Japan

#SetouchiTriennale update: Tonight, two ferries were running from #Naoshima to Takamatsu. The "Seto" and the "Naoshima" (that's the ferry's name). It's true that I hadn't seen the latter in a little while. Did it have a technical problem? No idea. Anyway ⤵️

Then, even people who only visit Naoshima don't research the island and are not sure how to get around and many don't know you're supposed to make a reservation to the main museums (and they've been booked for months). #Naoshima

As a reminder, there is almost nothing special on Naoshima and Teshima during the Setouchi Triennale. It's business as usual there, just with more people. The other islands is where it's at. #Japan #art #SetouchiTriennale #Naoshima

The official app is begging visitors to not go to #Naoshima and #Teshima and to visit the other #SetouchiTriennale islands. What I'm afraid is happening is that the number of foreign tourists is off-the-charts and for some reason they believe the festival happens mostly on those two islands. ⤵️