Prelude to an eastbound journey

Aomori Ken by
NARA Yoshitomo at
Aomori Museum of Art

This year this March, I'm definitely traveling in Tohoku and then attending a graduation ceremony in Tokyo for the students successfully finishing their phD courses and going back home in Southeast Asia. 




I intended to do so last March but couldn't make it due to conflicting schedules. But it's partly an excuse. I didn't have enough energy and enthusiasm last winter and look what happened in East Japan on March 11, 2011: the earthquake of that unprecedented scale and ensuing disasters caused by successive nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. People evacuated from their home places contaminated by radiation leaking from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Tohoku.


It still took some time to make up my mind to go for sure but something clicked one day and then right away I declared my decision to my clients who had kindly encouraged me to attend the graduation ceremony in Tokyo for the students they support as a corporation. 

Now I'm pretty happy and busy preparing for the journey, checking the places to go, making various reservations and arrangements.

Sawanoya Ryokan in Nezu, Tokyo

In Tokyo, I'll stay at Sawanoya Ryokan again. This inn even appeared in English textbooks for Japanese students thanks to their ingenious way for survival: they appealed to international travelers, updating their facilities and services to meet the needs of individual travelers from abroad. For details just type in Sawanoya and go to their site. Besides Sawanoya, there are several Ryokan inns in its vicinity. I had a chance to try out one and loved it. It was not new and fancy but clean and convenient and the room was spacious. 


In this article, let me just tell that I'm staying at Sawanoya again and I like the place and its neighborhood with old livable Tokyo atmosphere. Lots of photos and stories on Tohoku later on. The photo of the dog is from one of the destinations I plan to go. Amazingly Aomori has three architectural marvels which you should not miss. They will give you an inspiring and artistic experience. I'm gonna visit all three.


Many decades ago, I first visited Chuson-ji temple and other places nearby in Iwate Pref. They are currently designated World Cultural Heritage. Now I don't remember why I chose to go there as a young college student but this time I have a special feeling. Dr. Donald Keene, a renowned scholar on Japanese literature, visited there twice, long time ago and last year in 2011 and I had an honor to meet and talk with him on a winter day in 2011. I'd like to follow his footsteps and imagine how he felt there especially after the earthquake.


One of my friends I met at college was from Sendai, Miyagi Pref., Tohoku. and I once stayed at her house, meeting her parents for the first time. A funny thing was: my friend got ill and couldn't entertain me so her mother took me to Matsushima and a shrine called Shiogama Jinja. 


I remember this shrine pretty well 'cause I had just learned something interesting about this shrine in one of the lectures I took at college: the shrine has a large cauldron used for fortune-telling. I didn't appreciate much about Matsushima where a group of islands and islets in the bay are supposed to make a charming scenic seascape. How I like it now I don't know. Matsushima suffered from the earthquake but thanks to its geography of many islands in the bay and lots of pine trees, it spared itself from the worst. I might be able to go if time allows.


Besides Chuson-ji and Matsushima, I mostly picked up buildings in the present time. Gees I love architecture and want to see how architecture, landscape, nature, art, and humans have affairs.  


I'll see architecture by ANDO Tadao, AOKI Jun, NISHIZAWA Ryue, and ITO Toyo. The first three are in Aomori and the last in Sendai. Can't wait to go but this preparation period is not bad at all.