Horses Of Courses

On Sunday the 'rents and I went to the temples on Mt Shosha near Himeji. In order to get to them we took a ropeway up the Mountain.

Below is the Bell of Benevolence which you ring in the hope of world peace. We all had a turn 'cause it sounded cool!



This is the main temple, as you can see it is pretty dramatic but I was surprised to find that the view from it was really nothing special. You would think that if you went to all that trouble to build something in such a position you would give it a matching outlook!



Here's the entrance of the main temple and some shots of the interior. The Buddha statue you can rub with the big drumstick-like things for luck or you can touch a part on his body that is injured on yours and then touch your own injured body part to promote healing.






Then we had a walk around the rest of the temple complex before taking the cable car back down.






After we returned to Himeji we visited the gardens next to the castle. Inside we explored the themed gardens and then stopped to have a mini tea ceremony performed for us. The pictures below are of dad and mum at the ceremony, me in one of the gardens with gardeners in the background and the castle in the background of one of the gardens. As you can see the Autumn leaves are just starting to turn so I am hoping for some good shots of them in the coming weeks.





After the gardens we found a big pottery market that we wandered around for a little while and then we headed back to Kakogawa. We tried to find somewhere for dinner but many places were closed so we kept going back towards my apartment and in the end we ate at the restaurant across the street from my building! Luckily it turned out to be a new experience anyway, we ate at a table with a mini barbecue set in the middle of it and grilled our own meat. It was very tasty but made us all rather warm!

On Monday I had my first riding lesson and the 'rents came along to watch. I really enjoyed it and it was great to be back on a horse. I felt a bit of a novelty as many staff members and students came to say hello, in English, I really don't think I need to worry too much about not speaking Japanese. I also discovered that one of my students also rides there, as I was taking my lesson a voice suddenly called out hello, so I asked her to please introduce herself to my parents, it was nice that they got to meet one of my students, even if it was on strange territory!

Here's a picture of some of the facilities, certainly leaves my previous riding clubs in the dust and that's just for the horses! In the clubhouse there is a locker room with several showers, a cafe and an equipment shop.



After my lesson we went back over the bridge into the main part of Kak and had lunch and then it was time for mum and dad to head back to Kobe :( and then the airport :( :(, while I made my lonely way home. Awwwwww.

Weddings, Temples, Anything

Dad and mum came back to the Kak on Thursday evening and of course I was very happy to see them again. On Friday morning we went to the local temple that I mentioned visiting a few weeks ago. I didn't go in with them but returned home as I had my manager's wedding to get ready for. The three of us went to the station together and met my fellow teacher Yukari there. We all went into Kobe together and then mum and dad went back off to Steven and Nabuko's and Yukari and I headed for the wedding. When we arrived we immediately saw Jason and Keisuke, our fellow AEON Kak workers and also our Shibucho, or regional manager.

This is me with my Shibucho, and the second is of Shibucho with two other AEON managers.




Here's a picture of the inside of the chapel, as you can see the minister was very Japanese! :P But the service and all the hymns were in Japanese. It was a relatively short service, maybe half an hour tops, just the way they should be. :D



We all lined up to throw rose petals and blow bubbles on the newly-weds and then they took some pictures but no where near as many as at most od the weddings I've been to, it was really quite quick.



We made our way inside after the photos. I was sitting with Yukari and Eisaku, one of my high level students, so they kept me posted on what was going on through the many speeches. I even participated in one of them, a short English lesson hosted by Yukari, I provided the pronunciation. The food was French and delicious. Although one course was a champagne flavoured sorbet that Yukari and I and one of our fellow tablemates didn't fancy so since Eisaku was out of the room we donated them to him. When he got back to the table he was a man about it and got through them all, picture below.



Once the meal was almost done Yoshiko and Satoshi disappeared to get changed. When they returned Yoshiko was wearing a pink ball gown. They went around the room lighting all the table candles from one long lighter as you can see in the picture underneath. Then we all made our way back outside for dessert.



The evening ended with Yoshiko and Satoshi and their parents giving thank you speeches to each other, which I naturally again didn't understand. However it was amusing watching Yoshiko and various friends and relatives getting all teary, as pictured below.




Then it was time to do a farewell line, handshaking in the west, bowing here, and then head home for home. Yukari and I went together and I was very glad that I was with her because when we were just a few stops from Kakogawa the train stopped at an unscheduled station and didn't start again for over an hour. Had I been alone I would have had no idea what was going on. It turns out that it was a suicide, apparently there are around two per day in Japan, it's hard to comprehend, but it's even harder to comprehend why they choose to do it by train, their family is then expected to pay the rail company compensation!

More To Explore

The above and below images are from Nara where we spent last Sunday. We met again at Sannomiya on Saturday night, after I finished work and then went back to Steven and Nabuko's, where Nabuuko had prepared a delicious Japanese style curry for us. We were up early on Sunday to go to Nara and we headed straight for the Todai-Ji Temple(above) with it's enormous Buddha. On the way we stopped to feed the deer, which are all over the place, they are the symbol of Nara so are protected and spoiled! The temple is amazing, it's absolutely huge and the statue is equally impressive.

After we had seen it we walked around some more of the area and admired the stone lanterns and some other temple buildings.



On Monday we took the cable car up Mt Rokko near Kobe. At the top we took the ropeway across to Arima which is a hotspring resort. We used the free footbath outside the main onsen and had a wander around the town which was quite picturesque. I particularly enjoyed the biscuit makers. The smells coming out were great and so were the samples! :)

After we left Arima we went to Minoh where there is a waterfall. On the way up there were also some monkeys running around so that was cool. The funniest coincidence happened on the way up to the waterfall. I was walking along and I saw a tall western guy walking towards me and low and behold it was my training buddy John! I must know all of five people in the whole of Japan and I bump into one of them in the middle of nowhere. Small world! Here's a pic of the 'rents by the waterfall.



On our way back down from the waterfall we again encountered the monkeys but this time there were loads of them and they allowed us to get up pretty close to them, especially this little guy.



Unfortunately the ones with babies stayed a little further away so I tried to get some shots with my big camera but I won't know if they worked until I get those rolls developed.

Off to work now, will write about this most recent weekend tonight I hope.