Trip West to the Old–and New–East-part 1

Both Gary and I have been to Asia before. He had six months of shore duty, in 1964, in Okinawa and Yokosuka, Japan. Later in his civilian career in the air cargo industry, he returned many times. I traveled to most of Intel’s operational centers several times in the 1980s and 90s, including the marketing and distribution center in Tsukuba ( Science City). On one of those trips I tried to make my way around Tokyo. All the signs were in kanji; I couldn’t figure out where I was or where I was trying to go.

When Gary talked of taking a trip in Asia, I said, “Only on a guided tour.” So, this year we signed up for a 28-day cruise departing from Yokohama, with many guided shore excursions: eight stops in Japan, four in China, one in Korea, two in Taiwan, then a day in Manila before disembarking in Hong-Kong for the flight home.

I just realized that my WordPress blogs are now limited to a page at a time. Bear with me, please.

We went to Yokohama several days early, as usual. Much has changed since I was in Japan so long ago: all signage is in English and Kanji. It’s easy to get around.  On our first day, we went by train to the near-by town of Kamakura and hiked back into the hills to find the Giant Buddha. It’s not as big as the Statue of Liberty; but you can go inside and see how the bronze plates fit together and how head and neck have been reinforced to prevent earthquake damage.

We found the beautiful, expansive grounds of Hase-Kannon Temple, too.  I didn’t learn until later that the eleven-headed gilded statue is dedicated to a goddess, Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy. You’re not permitted to take photos in the temple itself, but I found  this one on Getty Images. I took many photos in the nearby cave.

Several features of the temple grounds reminded me of the Japanese Garden at home in Portland, OR, reflecting well on the skill and dedication of those who recently renovated and enlarged our Garden.

In Tokyo the next day, we took the Hop-on, Hop-off bus to get a sense of overwhelming modernity: tall sky-scrapers, bridges over land and water.

We were too late for a tour of the Imperial Palace–the last in the long line to get tickets were about six ahead of us. So we wandered around the extensive and beautiful grounds instead.