The Yugawara “Umenoutage” Festival was from February 7th to March 15th, there will be various traditional event taking place in the festival such as Geisha dance, Kyogen, and Japanese folk songs, etc.

I chose a sunny weekday to visit the festival, meet many old people.

After leaving Yugawara Station, I took a dedicated bus service to Makuyama Park, it took 15 minutes to reach the place.

I saw many patches of red and white on the mountain from faraway, I was getting excited.

There was a footbath facility that can be used free. However it is not a natural hot spring driven footbath but rather a man-made facility to meet the needs of the festival. The water is heated by the staff of the festival.

Many tourist spots in Japan offer free foot bath, many of them are driven by natural hot springs. To me, it is really a special treat.

When I saw the footbath in Yugawara Plum Grove, I realized the profound hot spring culture of Japan. For such an event, footbath is an inevitable facility.

I walked for a while, saw plum trees emerged in white and red flowers. There are subtle flower scents in the are.

There are many stalls in the open space at the foot of the mountain selling a variety of specialties. Many people gathering there.

Under the trees, there are some tables and benches, I bought a Dan-Dan noodle started to eat it under the tree.

After coming down from the mountain, I bought a plum flavor ice cream, it smells the fragrant of plum.

During the festival, you will get 1 point for every 100 yen you spent in the Plum Garden. 15 points can be changed to a cup of sweet wine. I want to give my 8 min away and fear of being as bad guys, can not open the mouth, on the way back.

After finishing my lunch, I walked up the mountain. The road to the mountain top was not so steep, it was an easy walk for me. I noticed that the mountain was filled with plum flowers. The team formed of elderly people are very energetic, walking around everywhere in the plum grove.

I took many pictures of the plum, red, white and yellow flowers.

To me, the flowers of plum, peach and cherry all looked similar, but after took so many pictures, I can tell the difference between them now.

There are many types of plums in Yugawara Plum Grove, many I cannot call its name but plum blossom shapes are quite different from each other.

Served with blue sky and the distant hills, adds to the beauty of plum blossoms.

An old man saw me taking pictures constantly, says I am so seriously.

Yugawara is one of few places I love mostly in Japan. Whenever I visited here, I can always enjoy the beautiful scenery, and have a better experience.

Information

* Please refer to the latest info before visiting the place.

1. At the bus stop.

At the station, you can refer to a time table for checking the departure time of a bus.

Numbers showed in column 1 in the time table represent every hour on the hour, column 2 represent minutes.

For example, there are four buses depart at 6 in the morning which are 6:05, 6:20, 6:35 and 6:50.

2. Boarding the bus.

Generally if you are waiting a public bus, you don’t need to weave your hand to make it stop, all you need is to stand in front of the bus top.

When boarding the bus, there is a machine on the bus from which you have to take a boarding ticket. The boarding ticket is used to refer the bus stop you boarded, therefore you can calculate the fares according to the number on the ticket when getting off the bus.

The following shows the boarding ticket (it comes out of the machine automatically) and a card reader to touch your card (there is no need to take a numbered ticket if you use a IC card.)

1: Boarding ticket; 2: Touch your card when boarding; 3: Money exchange (insert a bill); 4: take coins; 5: touch your card when getting off; 6: insert coins when getting off

3. In the bus

Please do not make phone calls or smoke in the bus.

Buses will give customers full time to get on and off, not to rush people, so don’t stood up from your seat until the bus safely stopped.

Priority seats are reserved for handicaps and others with physically inconvenience, in most cases, please avoid sitting on the seats.

Usually the bus will show information of the stop displayed in the front upper side of the bus, you have to push a button to tell the driver to stop. If you don’t push the button, the bus may go forward without stop.

Here is an example of the front display in the bus. You can use it to calculate your fare.

The up most row shows the name of the next stop.

The number showed at the upper side of the lower row indicates the number in your boarding ticket, the number showed at the lower side indicates the fares need to pay at this stop.

For example, it the number in your boarding ticket is 0, then you have pay 230 yen in order to get off at Inshatsujyo-Mae (The Printing Office).

4. Unboarding the bus

Put the fare along with the boarding ticket into the box of payment.

The payment box is a bit complex, it also works as a money changer. Below shows a payment box.

If you have a I.C. Card or you have the exact amount of coins, you can throw the money in directly into the box.

If you don’t have enough coins, you have to put a 1000 yen bill or 500 yen coin into the money changer. The changed coins will come out from the bottom of the machine, you use the coins to pay the fare. (It only serves as a money changer, you can not pay the fare directly from it.)

There are variations in shapes between each bus operators, but the functions are almost same. It generally labeled with Kanji characters. The plastic transparent one is the payment box.

“両替” means money change.

“硬貨” means coins

“1000円札” means 1000 yen bill

“ICカード” means I. C. Card

Next time you visit Japan, how about a trip by bus?

 

How to ride a bus

(from the official website of Hakone-Tozan Bus)    

The weather was not so good and the forecast says it will start snow this afternoon.

Considered the bad weather, I chose an in-house experience class. In this kind of weather, making pottery seems like a good choice.

After transfered from JR Tokaido Line to Hakone-Tozan Line, I took a train of Hakone-Tozan-Tetsudo Line followed by a cable car, it took me two hours to reach the destination.

The rain became heavy at noon, I finished my lunch and went for Craft House in Gora Park for a reservation of the pottery making hands-on class.

The house offers many experience-based classes. Last time I visited here, I had entered a glass blowing class.

There are two types of pottery hands-on training, one is to prepare the paste of pottery and another is to put the paste on a dish of rotary and extend and stretch it to the ideal shapes. Although I want to try both one, however I chose the one on the dish of rotary.

Because it looks cooler than the other one.

I had to wait a while after finished the reservation, so I went to a tropical plants garden in the park. The greenhouse was filled with flowers in various colors, all in full blossom.

The place was holding a Christmas Rose Exhibition the day I visited. The Christmas roses didn’t look like ordinary roses, they were more simple and moderate in shape and colors.

I was so happy that it didn’t require an umbrella in the greenhouse.

Whenever you visit here, it is always filled with fresh flowers. I still remember last time I visiting here was to attend an Autumn Grass Exhibition, the place was also packed with flowers that time.

By the time I return to the Craft House, my pottery lesson was waiting for me.

I first put on an apron and rolled up my sleeves, sitting at the rotate dish waking the instructions from the staff. Together with me, there were also other guests taking part in this session including a couple and two young boys.

After the preparation was done, the staff started to give us demonstrations. He first showed us several techniques of form the shape of the pottery on the rotate dish, for example how to stretch and how to minimize, how to make it taller and how to handle it if you accidentally failed the shape.

The paste of the mud became alive in his hands, it changed shapes easily, we all amazed by his talents.

It’s now our turn to make the shape. He stretched a prototype for us to start, we have to carry out and finalize the shape using our imaginations. After the 40 minutes hands-on lessens, I made two small objects.

The first one was already in my mind, so I just form the shape slowly followed the image in my mind. The result was pretty good.

The second one I didn’t have a pre-imaged shape in my mind, I just make the shape as the dish rotates, sometimes try to make the middle of the body larger, while sometimes try to minimize the neck, it turned out a pretty one too.

After I finished my shape, the staff helped me to separate the shape from the dish, offered me several colors to chose from. After that, there were drying, burning, glazing and reburning processes.

I have to wait two months to meet my works.

I love hands-on workshop like this. Future homes lack what decorative jars, maybe go to a pottery classroom will be a good choice.

On my way home, the rain stopped, there were beautiful rosy clouds and a brilliant rainbow on the sky.

My friend told me that there were treasures hidden in the other side of the rainbow, but I already found the treasures in my life so I’ll simply leave it to other people.

I believe everyone who saw rainbow is a sign of obtaining happiness.

It was a wonderful day for me.

Information

* Please refer to the latest info before visiting the place.

Haku-undo Tea Garden is located in a place surrounded by the strange stones of Kyora, Hakone, it well preserved the tranquil mood of Japan’s mountainous area. It was built by Takashi Masuda who was Japan’s famous tea ceremony expert in Taisho period. Haku-undo had then become an important place for holding tea ceremony.

It was transfered to Sanke, Hara Tomitaro who late built a new room called Tsuijisai.

In 1940, the tea garden was transfered to Matsunaga Yasuzaemon.

In this way, the tea room had been hand over by three generations through Meiji, Taisho, and Showa periods.

Haku-undo tea garden also became famous due to the three great tea experts, Dunou, Sankei and Jian.

The tea room is located at an elevated ground on the top of the mountain, it contains four buildings that are Haku-undo, Fusenan, Tsuijian and Hakurokuto.

I entered a wooden gate, followed a stone-paved path and turned at a conner, suddenly Haku-undo appeared before me. The tea garden is kept very clean and pure. I lowed my voice and even don’t have the dare to press the camera shutter in case the sound broke the tranquil mood of the place.

I reached the Haku-undo, I saw there was a small bell on the side of the gate, when pushed the owner will come and welcome the guest.

I took off my shoes, sit straight with my knees on the floor in front of the niche.

There is a handwriting hanging in front of the niche, decorated with seasonal flowers. Its simple and elegant.

The owner handle me a dish of snacks. After eating the snack, the owner brought me some tea.

I followed the instruction of the owner, drinking tea with my hand holding the bowl and my left hand holding from the bottom, rotate the bowl 90 degrees clockwise before drink it.

After enjoying the tea, I had a tour of other buildings in the tea garden.

The roof of the building were still covered with snow, I walked barefoot on the wooden floor, felt very chilly.

From the beginning to the end, I dare not talk too loudly, afraid the destruction of the tea garden of quiet.

When leaving the garden, the sky is still raining, the owner watched me leave.

I think that I and the elegance of Japan ladies may not meet each other forever. We may met like this only happened once in our life. I think this is exactly the spirit of tea ceremony that is “Treasure every meeting, for it will never recur.”

We have to treasure every encounter in our life.

Information

* Please refer to the latest info before visiting the place.

During the Plum Festival, there will be various funny events such as Yabusame, Odawara Lantern Dance, Lion Dance, pit spit game, etc. These events are very crowded.

The Yabusame is from the end of January to early March. I visited there on February 11th, when coincided with Japan traditional riding and shooting competitions, Yabusame. The tranquil plum grove became so bustling.

Yabusame is a traditional mounted archery, the rider run the horse on a straight line at a length of about 218 meters while shooting aiming at the targets on the left side in a continuous way. Yabusame, together with Kasakake and Inuoumono are called the Three Most-known Mounted Archeries in Japan.

Yabusame was originally considered a riding and shooting exercise in the old time. It gradually changed into a martial arts contest between Samurais.

Nowadays, Yabusame had become one of the traditional rituals in the Japanese shrine ceremony, you can see Yabusama at various place all around Japan. Yabusame is a ritual for praying for a good harvest and a peaceful world.

After leaving Soga Station, I followed the flow of the crowd and reached the venue. There was a barren field covered with many blue plastic sheets where people bring snacks and lunch boxes, finding a place to sit down, waiting for the Yabusame to start.

The afternoon sun is a bit strong and dazzling. The flow of people is getting bigger and bigger.

We sit on the grass and eat our lunch boxes happily.

Before the start of Yabusame, there is a long ritual ceremonies. We were at a place too far away from the stage. We could only hear the voice.

Finally I saw a procession approaching us.

People wears various transitional Japanese costumes.

The shooters are not only men but also women, there are four women out of the total ten members. There are three targets, the shooters have to ride a horse while shooting at the targets where the horse running at a high speed. The shooters have to complete various techniques such as tuck the arrow, open the bow, shotting, etc.

As the game progresses, it will switch to a different targets. Shooting at dishes is the most difficult technique to perform which is also the most exciting one for spectators to watch.

As the game moves to its climax, every one watching the game became ver exciting and started shouting involuntarily.

When the game entered into the second half, the weather became so hot that I almost lost my enthusiasm to watch the game for any longer.

After the game is finished, we followed other people left the place. We watched beautiful plum flowers.

The plums were mainly white plum flowers, there were little red plum flowers.

However I managed taken some good photos.

The Plum Blossom Festival also has it own mascot which is called Umemaru.

I had taken few photos of the children of my friend who are so cute!

Small dogie came to view the blossom with his master!

Information

* Please refer to the latest info before visiting the place.

Sunlights pouring down like rainbow, people bathing in the sun lazily.

A little girl is playing with sands happily while as her mother watching her from a distance with full of love in her eyes.

The sunshine felt so warm and cozy. My face became greasy under the sun.

I saw birds hovering above my head. I wonder what they are looking for?

I sit on the desolated beach listen to the song of the sea.

The sound of the sea is so wonderful. I can’t get enough of listening to it.

In February, the sea breeze still felt a bit cold, but the afternoon sunlights felt a bit strong than it should be. Everything around me is so beautiful.

I picked up a withered branch on the beach start to draw random graffiti.

I don’t draw very well. My drawing is ugly.

However, a wave come over anyway, everything can be cleared. So I don’t need to worry about other people’s eye.

My shoes, backpack slipped in some sands.

I don’t think they are willing to go home with me. They belong to the sea.

I let the wind brow my hair freely, regret not having tied it up.

Watching small groups of people left, I’m up and about to leave this piece of golden sandy beaches.

If I sit here a little longer, I may catch a bad cold.

This is a famous scene from a novel called Konjiki-Yasha which is a novel with story happened in Atami.

Beautiful floor tiles, tells the story of Atami.

My big face taken at the beach side.

The Heiwa-dori Street was lighted in the night.

I love Atami,

and I love life.

Hope everyone can get a chance to visit Atami.

Of course, you want a lively atmosphere, you can choose summer.

Atami sun beach is a natural playground for summer.

Information

s* Please refer to the latest info before visiting the place.

Nowadays, people put the decorations on both side of the Hinamatsuri altar.

Hinamatruri hanging decoration festival was first hold in 1998 by Inatori Onsen Ryokan Organization in 1998 to boost the tourism of the local area. After similar ornaments became popular, various Festival activities are also held. In order to unify the planning and management, Higashi-Izu Commercial and Industrial Association established a community called “Inatori Momo no kai”.

Hanging decorations today includes as much as 50 types such as peach, monkey and triangles. Peaches are for longevity, monkeys are for exorcising evil spirits and triangles are for health.

The basic design of hanging decoration uses 5 red threads, each thread links 11 hanging decorations for 55 decorations in total. It need a pair so it is 110 in total. In order to pray good luck, the number of decorative ornaments must be 3, 5, 7, 9, so it is a inseparable odd-number.

In order to experience Hinamatsuri, we visited Inatori to learn about the making of hanging decorations.

An old lady’s working desk for making hanging decoration.

Under the instruction of an old lady, I chose a carp as my decoration making object, my friend chose a little red flower. The making of the little red flower doesn’t require sewing, so my friend finished her work within half an hour. My carp cost me more than one hour.

First sew up the fabrics to make the fins, scales and body of the carp. The old lady prised my ingenuity, I was so happy!

After finished the sewing, next to put cottons in the body of the carp to make it fluffy.

The final procedure is to attach the eyes of the fish, so it became alive.

When the old lady got to know that I came from China, she gave me two crafts as gifts.

After making the hanging decoration, we said goodbye to the old lady and went to see fine hanging decorations made by everybody displayed in the Culture Park.

A super big dolls popped in my eyes, after entering an assortment of ornaments, very beautiful.

The craft is very small but very expensive.

Higashi-Izu Inatori of Shizuoka, Sakada city of Yamagata and Yanagikawa city of Fukuoka are three largest hanging decorations of Japan.

No matter how the times change, that each stitch sewn into a mother’s love is not going to change in the decorations.

Information

* Please refer to the latest info before visiting the place.

The race was first hosted in 1956, it had become one of the most important house race in Japan since then. The winner horse of the race will be rewarded a prize of 200 million Japanese yen, the amount had been increased to 250 million yen at the beginning of 2015.

Arima Kinen, the name of the race is originated from the name of Arima Yoriyasu who was the second chairman of the JRA, in order to commemorate his contributions to the development of Japan’s horse racing industrial. He died in 1957, the name of the race was changed to Arima Kine Horse Race since then.

Arima Kinen is not only a sport festival event, it also serves as a unique tradition of year end in Japan. It is well recognized by the society.

Japanese people is hard-working and earnest. Our group consisted of five people, we have exchanged up to 20 or 30 emails regarding important matters and precautions of Arima Kinen Horse Race before took the trip.

Arima Kinen Horse Racing of 2014 was hold on December 28th. Japan already entered holiday seasons of the new year. Train stations and travel spots were all packed with people. Nakayama Racecourse was no exception. I never had imaged to see so many people in Japan, it felt like back in China.

The racecourse is packed with people indoor or outdoor. People spread news papers on the floor, some lied down on the floor, some even brought coverlets, it seems they had spent the night here. I think maybe it is hard to find another place that is more disordered and dirty than here.

When the race reached its climax, everybody shouted and screamed with force. However the order was well-maintained, there was not collisions or stampede accidents.

The weather is great, there is a helicopter hovering in the sky. When we reached there, the race already entered its 7th games, people gettered around the course try to have a clear look.

My friend told me how to make the bet and how to buy a betting ticket. I chose the one that looks most simple, put a deposit of 200 yen. There are men and women all around me shouting.

It’s rare to see Japanese people getting so excited.

Among the six people of our group, one person won a prize. In the cold wind, although I didn’t win any prize, I felt so happy.

My friend said she is satisfied of the trip because she saw some famous personalities.

Actress Ms. Maomi Yuki, Fuji TV new anchor Mt. Naohide Fukuhara, comedian Mt. Takaaki Ishibashi and former professional baseball player and manager Mt. Shigeo Nagashima.

We watched beautiful horses and sunset when left for home.

Information

* Please refer to the latest info before visiting the place.

On the first day of 2015, I was invited to the home of my boss. At there, I ate rice cake soup and Osechi. It taste much different from Chinese new year cuisine.

Chinese new year cuisine are mainly hot dishes, people eating in a lively and joyous mood. The cuisine includes many must-have dishes using a variety of ingredients, such as chicken, duck, fish and pork, cooked using different methods such as fired, boiled or sauted. In rural areas, people butchers pigs they raised in the past year to serve a good new year dinner for the guests. Housewives are the most busy ones on this day.

New year in Japan seems a lot more quiet and modest comparing to China. All dishes except a traditional soup called Ozoni, are cooked without fire, there are no hot dishes served at the table. Housewives in Japan are released from doing any houseworks on this day.

The main dishes of Osechi cuisine is called Iwaisanko which contains mainly three kinds of dishes, boiled, pickled and fried foods. However the ingredients varies slightly according to different areas in Japan.

In Kanto area of Japan, Iwaisanko contains black soybeans which means longevity and health, herring roes which means the thrive of descendants, and small dried sardines fish which means a good harvest.

The wife of my boss prepared a large amount of Ozoni soup which I ate a lot. I didn’t eat too much of dishes of Osechi, now when I look at these pictures, it triggers my appetite. The Osechi cuisines mainly taste saltier or sweeter than the ordinary foods. There are many foods made in roll shapes in red, yellow and green colors which I have no idea what they are. I will definitely try these delicious foods next time.

The containers used to serve the Osechi cuisine are delicately designed and chose. It must be a box with two to five tiers. Box with five tiers are most formally used. The contents of each tiers also need to be well organized.

The Osechi dishes served in the house of my boss.

These are the picture of Osechi cuisine I collected from the web and my friend send to me.

The Ozoni soup is delicious! It contains a variety of ingredients such as vegetables, chickens and rice cakes. The cooking methods and ingredients varies in different areas.

When I left my boss’ house, it started to snow, I was so exited to see snowflakes flying in the sky.

It was January 1st, and It was the first snow of 2015.

I had a feeling that this year is going to be a good one.

When praying in a Japanese shrine or temple, you have to pay your respect to god, behaving in a well mannered way to receive the bless from god.

So I collected some information on how to pray just for your reference.

1. Sando (the entrance path)

Every shrine has a Torii (large gateway to the shrine), you should bow once at the Torii, and walk pass the it to enter the path.

After entered the path, you should walk on the side of the path. Never walk on the middle which is believed is the path left for god.

(Use you right foot first if you walked on the right side of the path, use your left foot first if you are on the left side.)

2. Chozuya (a Shinto water ablution pavilion)

In old time, people had to purification and take a bath before praying. However the custom doesn’t exist anymore.

In stead, you have to wash you body at a water ablution pavilion along side the path.

Specific methods are as follows:

Use you hand to hold the handle of the Hishaku (a wooden ladle), clean your left hand.

Hold the ladle by left hand, clean your right hand.

Hold the ladle by right hand, pour some water in your left hand, use the water to rinse your mouth.

After rinsing your mouth, clean your left hand again.

Put the ladle in vertical direction, clean the handle of the ladle, put it back to the original place.

3. Pray

Let me show you how to make a pray.

First, bow your head once.

Ring the bell with force. Just once is OK.

throw a few coins into the Saisenbako (a wooden box) quietly. The amount of the money is not important, just do what you think is appropriate. However 5 yen or 50 yen is considered to be numbers with good luck.

Bow your head twice then clap your hands twice followed by another bow.

Bow twice means that put your head deep down near to 90 degrees for twice.

Clap twice means that to push out your two hands, put the palms together, put the left hand a bit higher than the right hand (left hand representing god, right hand representing yourself), move your two hands to a distance almost equal to the width of your shoulder, clap your hands for twice. After clapping your hands for twice, put your palms together once again make the pray. Drop your both hands.

Bow for once means that put your head deep down once again.

4. After the pray

After you finished the pray, you have to return by walking on the same route, passing the Torii again, turn to the Torii to make a final bow.

These four steps are the basics for praying in Japanese shrine. You can also experience ring the bell, drew a fortune slip etc in the shrine.

If you drew a “Kyo” fortune slip with bad luck, just tie the slip to a rack in the shrine, let god help you to convert the bad luck.