[Day 6 of our Spring 2019 journey in Japan] “It is quite far away. Why do you want to go there?”, asked the officer at the Kyoto Station Tourist Information Centre. I was slightly taken aback by the implied discouragement. I thought I was doing Kyoto a favour to decongest the city by two persons tomorrow. “Not many people go to Yoshiminedera, mostly old people”, she added. That further deflated my enthusiasm for the planned trip quite a bit. After…
A symphony must be like the world. It must contain everything Gustav Mahler Beginning Mahler The first time I heard Mahler was in 1980 (maybe 1981 or 1982) at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was full-house, and the only ticket I could get was for the balcony tier—no seats, need to stand throughout the concert. The balcony rail overlooking the stage was filled up, so I resigned myself to sitting on the floor behind the standing crowd. It…
A Samurai Home you want to live in It is our last day in Kanazawa and the Rain God continues to do his duty, this time with more enthusiasm. Luckily for us, we are at the gates of the Nomura Samurai Family House at the Nagamachi district before his arrival. Originally part of the estate of the family of Nomura Denbei Nobusada (a senior official to the region’s feudal lord during the Edo period), the house fell into hard times…
Kenroku-en is often labelled as one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. With a reputation like that, there is no need to have a marketing department to lure visitors to its doorstep. Moreover, it has an intriguing name. Translated into English, Kenroku-en means “Six Attributes Garden”. Most gardens I know (not that I know a lot) are named after a place, a person, or their defining characteristic. A garden with the name “Six Attributes” just tugs at your…
It must be the dream of every potato farmer to find gold while digging up the humble root. This was apparently what happened to a lucky farmer long ago, according to a Japanese legend. When the farmer washed some wild potatoes in a nearby spring, specks of gold also floated up together with the mud and grime. The lucky place was thus named Kanazawa, meaning “gold marsh”. The City of Gold Today, if you go to Kanazawa, you don’t need…
No place like Tokyo Tokyo is bewildering and orderly at the same time. The complexity (just look at the subway map) is not surprising for a city with a population of 13.9 million. Though it is not unusual for tourists to lose their way in any big city, it can happen quite often in Tokyo, at least to me. In the mildest form, we just back-track and start all over again. But there were occasions when we realised too late…
I have thoughts of starting a blog more than 15 years ago, but like many appealing ideas in my life, it did not surface to the top of my do-now list. Now that my list has shortened to a few recurrent domestic chores, starting a blog becomes more compelling. As to the reason I am blogging, this is found in my introductory pages – about this blog and about myself (check these out if you have not already done so)….