For the last couple of years Carol and I have
been talking about taking a trip to Japan, I lived there for 5 ½
years while serving in the Army.
I started studying Judo after I
returned to the United States and wanted to return to Japan, to pay
my respects to Jigoro Kano at the Kodokan, the birthplace of judo.
We would have returned this week.
We booked passage from Vancouver on one
of those luxury cruise ships. We would have left Vancouver on the
7th of September. There would be a stop in Dutch Harbor,
Alaska. We might see whales and icebergs calving and Russia for
sure. Our final destination was Otaku, in the northern island of
Hokkaido.
We would spend 2 days exploring the
island prefecture of Hokkaido. We found a couple of interesting
accommodations in the guide book. Hokkaido is known for its natural
beauty and is the site of several National Parks.
We would travel by local trains through
the rural north of the big island of Honshu stopping off to enjoy the
typical tourist traps.
Next was Tokyo for a week. Planned
were several visits to the Kodokan. Shopping for a nice/new judo gi.
Shopping for new yukata. Shopping in a brush store. Taking some
lessons in shodo, Japanese calligraphy. Visiting temples and
historic areas and museums. And of course many of our destinations
were about the food. We had rented a VRBO in Kawasaki.
Next was Osaka, it was going to be more
of a central hub for us to explore the Japanese communities
accessible by train, so a lot of area, temples, castles, gardens,
shopping for kitchen items and of course restaurants.
“Sukiya Living”, is a magazine
about Japanese residential gardens, how to build them, and how to
maintain them. They sponsor two 10 day garden tours in Kyoto. We
signed up for the fall tour. It is truly an experience of excess,
you get to see some of the best examples of Japanese Gardens, the
food is over the top, there is tea ceremony and other cultural
activities.
I was studying Japanese 2 hours a day,
hoping to have some interesting conversations.
Damn, it was going to be an awesome
trip!
