Aomori, Tohoku

Artwork on the floor @Towada Art Centre

Recently, in the middle of March, 2012, I managed to go to Tohoku and Tokyo partly on business but mostly for pleasure. I left Fukuyama, Hiroshima Pref. in the evening of March 11, exactly one year after the Great East Japan Earthquake took place. 


I finished the job in Fukuyama and took the Sanyo Shinkansen Nozomi super-express bound for Tokyo. Then I changed trains to go to Ikebukuro, thirty minutes by train from Tokyo Station. There I took an overnight express bus to Ichi-no-seki, Iwate, Tohoku. I arrived there a little before 5:00 am and waited in a convenience store (I chatted with a good-hearted gentleman working for the store) and then a waiting room of the railway station before taking a train to Hiraizumi. Within a matter of ten minutes, I arrived at Hiraizumi Station. I spent a day in Hiraizumi but another article will be written about it and its world cultural heritage.  


This is the first article reporting the journey to Tohoku and only a brief introduction of things in Aomori, the northernmost prefecture in Honshu island. This year, I'm planning to go back to Tohoku at least twice, once for my research and the other on business. I might go more if circumstances allows. 



I had three architectural works of interest in mind in Aomori and am happy to say I managed to cover them all. However, due to deposited snow, I didn't really see the whole constructions. Part or most of them were covered with snow. Still I didn't really mind because snow is part of Aomori and architecture should get along with the local climate. Besides snow makes fantastic scenery. 

Aomori Museum of Art

The Aomori Museum of Art designed by AOKI Jun was the first of the three I visited. Half or more of the buildings and premises were under the snow. But the Aomori Ken (Aomori Dog) was pretty, sitting in the snow calmly capped with a bit of snow.

Aomori Ken @ Aomori Museum of Art

The center is on the grounds of Aomori Public College

The Aomori Contemporary Art Centre designed by ANDO Tadao was the second but that was mostly besieged with snow and I barely saw the architecture. It was almost a joke but I learned how deep the snow in Aomori could be even in the middle of March so it was a good lesson. 

Flower Horse & Museum Wings/Corridor @ Towada Art Center

The last in Aomori was the best of all: Towada Art Center designed by NISHIZAWA Ryue. Gees he's a genius. I went there after an unexpectedly heavy snow surprised Hachinohe and the places nearby including Towada. The roads from JR Sichinohe-Towada Station where I rented a car to the museum as well as the premises and surroundings of the museum were again filled with snow. But snow is part of their life and it can highlight the artworks though some of them were totally buried beneath the snow. No problem. I can always imagine. They are waiting for the advent of spring. Just natural.

Nebuta Float

In addition to exploring these architectural works, I walked around Aomori Station and saw magnificent floats used for Nebuta festival in the Nebuta museum called Warasse. I saw more including the bay and the sea and I ate good things like scallops from the local waters.


I loved the hotel I stayed in Aomori: Hotel Passage ( one of the Hyper Hotels Passage). It only cost 4500 yen a night including very healthy breakfast with a wide variety of dishes. The room was square and looked cozy, where you'd like to work on your things. It was quite comfortable with a partition between the toilet/washstand area and the Japanese style bathroom (equipped with a deep bathtub, a washing area, a shower, and a faucet). Of course, amenities were good. Free coffee in the lounge and you can pick up extra toiletries at the lobby in addition to those already set in the room.  It was three minutes' walk from JR Aomori Station. I can live there for quite a while. And fortunately a food market is in the basement of a nearby shopping building. People working there were cheerful, inviting shoppers to sample their food while speaking in the local accent.


More photos of Towada Art Center. Please take a look.

Just generous: artworks part of the city !

Chasing somebody?

The square in front of the museum.
Snow will be gone soon.

KUSAMA Yayoi works

Fat House & Fat Car
Go in the house. She talks.

See the floor. I'm on top of the artwork,
about to eat bread & soup. 

Tomo's Hina dolls

Tomo's Vanity Dolls (the large couple) and lots more

As I mentioned in the previous article, Tomo's merchant families had elaborate Hina dolls not only for the healthy growth and happiness of their daughters but also for the prosperity of their family business. Some families bought the dolls even though they didn't have girls in their family. For them, the Hina dolls were something like good-luck talismans. 

Paper Cutout of Vanity Dolls

The families prepared the so-called Vanity Dolls to demonstrate their family wealth and tradition. The dolls wear  many layers of exquisite clothing  and the sleeves of the empress dolls had to be long and graceful. The photo is one example of this type of dolls. Also posted is a photo of an artistic paper cutout modeled on the same dolls made by a cutout artist living in Kure, Hiroshima but originally from Hanamaki, Iwate in Tohoku.




The photo below is simply heart-wrenching 'cause they are from the earthquake-affected area. They survived the disasters in 2011 and came over this far to Tomo-no-ura, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima for some strange connection and displayed at the Higo-ya house. For the time being until March 11 when Tomo's Hina dolls public display is over, you can go inside Tomo's traditional houses where the dolls including this pack are displayed.

Tomo-no-tsu Museum in Tomo-no-ura

Museum Facade
Go to http://abtm.jp/ to see more photos

The museum is planned to officially open this May. But it has already held some events and workshops. I, as a self-proclaimed Tomo Walker, came across this museum yesterday on February 28, 2012 and had a chance to take a first look at the interior and artworks currently exhibited. 


A former warehouse made of wood and clay owned by the well-established Hayashi family is now reborn as a heart-warming museum. 




The great location, well-designed architecture making a good use of the original house, comfortable atmosphere are highly appreciated. I loved it.


They are having a free exhibit now. Now is the great opportunity for you to go to Tomo. Besides the new museum, lots of dolls celebrating and wishing for girls' healthy growth and happiness can be enjoyed. 


The dolls, called Hina-nin-gyo, are seen at many places around this time of year. The families who have girls will set the dolls at home though at my place they remain in the closet due to my ignorance and the presence of our cat. Besides, in my family, all the girls have grown into women including the cat. That's my excuse.


With a bit of guidance on Tomo's Hina dolls, your appreciation will be amplified but it's also just fine to make yourself free, slow down and wander around Tomo.


More about Tomo's Hina dolls in details, possibly in the next article.


Just one comment: Tomo's Hina celebrations were not just for the girls but for the flourishing business, for Tomo once prospered as a trading port and the trading houses showed off their gorgeous dolls to their business associates, say from Osaka, to impress and gain trust from them. 

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. 

Freezing cold and I like it

This article is transfer.ed from my previous blog site and revised slightly.

The approach slopes down to Butsu-den main hall.

Kyoto holds a winter campaign every year to lure people to come to the ancient capital even when the climate is not kind. Wear warm clothes, hat, gloves, socks, boots, and jacket, and you will love Kyoto’s winter, when there are less visitors and the air is extra crisp.

Oh, don’t forget to drop by a convenience store to get portable adhesive body warmers to beat the cold. Put it on the back of your inner wear. It will warm you up. The same type of warmers is available for your soles too if you like. And non-sticky ones are also on sale. Say “hokkai-ro” forming a rectangle with your fingers, and the staff will understand.





Famous places are fine; in fact, easier than you go there in high season like spring and fall. But take advantage of Kyoto’s winter campaign. A dozen locations in Kyoto have their halls, rooms and items usually closed to the public accessible until March 22, 2010.

One of my recommendations to you is the temple called Sen-nyu-ji, the temple of welling spring water. The temple is commonly called Mi-tera, meaning the temple for the imperial family, because of its historically close links with the imperial court. The temple has 39 imperial mausoleums at the foot of the hill, which is closed to the public.

Pay the admission fee and have fun in the precincts first. Go into the Butsu-den main hall and enjoy the hall as an architectural marvel as well as its interior with the three Buddha statues, the dragon motif painting on the ceiling, and the whitish Kannon Bodhisattva drawing you’ll see just before you leave the hall.

Then you might be ready to pay again to take off your shoes and go into the special area, which includes the six rooms still used by the imperial family members when they take a rest while visiting Kyoto. Enjoy the graceful paintings on the panels of the sliding doors installed at these rooms in Goza-sho hall. The garden is also fine, feels gentle and graceful. A stone lantern near the water adds tasteful atmosphere to the garden.

Proceed to the solemn-looking Rei-mei-den hall which enshrines the tablets with posthumous names of the deceased emperors and imperial members. Look at the ceilings of the inner area. Quite sophisticated. Compare them with the other types of ceilings you see while visiting the area, exclusively open this time of the year.

The temple is 880 Yen away by taxi (smallest type) from the Hachi-jo-guchi gate of Kyoto Station. Or take a train or a bus. You need to walk for 10 to 15 minutes to the ticket gate. Could be more. Ask the information on the second floor of Kyoto JR Station. You’ll enjoy the station as well.

Dynamic glass and steel structure of Kyoto Station

Large atrium of Kyoto Station

The present JR Kyoto Station is the fourth construction built in the course of one of the commemorative projects to celebrate the 1200th anniversary of the establishment of ancient capital Kyoto in 794. Kyoto served as the capital until 1868 when the Meiji restoration was carried out and the emperor left Kyoto for Edo in 1869. Seven appointed architects from Japan and abroad submitted their plan in 1994. The one by HARA Hiroshi was chosen. The architect limited the height to 60 meters (or low) but it’s a 470-meter-long building from west to east. Some say the station might not be a skyscraper but looks like a high-rise building lying on its side. The station, completed in 1997, might be a space ship landed on the earth and took root.

Rock Garden and more at Ryoan-ji Temple

Famed Rock Garden

Here's the rock garden of Ryoan-ji temple. Many visitors sit on the porch to the right but the garden looks as if it were enjoying its solitude.

Many love to talk about the mystery and secret of this garden but you should rather sit still and do not think much until you become none.

Ume blossoms in early spring

This is also from Ryoan-ji temple: Ume Japanese apricot blossoms in early March of 2009. This tree is rather unusual because on this single tree are both pink and white Ume flowers in bloom. Find the tree on the way to the rock garden. 

Ume comes into bloom before the arrival of spring from February to early March. They are proud flowers coming into bloom when the air is still chilly. 

Daisugi Ceder

The rock garden is said to be one of the supreme examples of abstract Zen gardens and could be world-famous. However, the large pond garden spreading in front of the temple complex looks graceful. 

The precincts formerly belonged to the aristocratic Tokudaiji family and used as their retreat. The large Kyoyo-chi pond was made by them in the late 12th century. Though the precincts were handed over to HOSOKAWA Katsumoto, a high-ranking samurai official of the Muromachi shogunate in 1450 and made into a Zen temple, this strolling type garden seems to retain the Heian elegance. 

Be sure to feel the Heian ambience before and after your visit to the rock garden.

For most of the visitors, however, the priority of their visit is to sit on the porch in front of the rock garden trying to feel a bit of Zen meditation, though you have a lot of company and many are busy counting the rocks. You can only see 14 out of the total 15 rocks arranged in the rectangle white gravel garden regardless of your position. People want to make sure that they see 14. The only position you can see the whole rocks at one glance is said to be a certain point in the room.

Many seriously believe that the garden was designed that way; others say it’s only a coincidence. It will be better to see the garden as it appears rather than analyze it, though. Tourists are attracted to the garden due to its established fame and touted mystery and later end up saying “been there, done that.”

If you have enough time at the temple however, it will still make a very memorable visit. After you have “meditated” at the rock garden and put your shoes on again, take time to stroll around the large pond. On the way, try going up a little bit to the right. You will find a grove of DAISUGI cedar trees.

Originally this style of cedar was invented to make the best use of the limited grounds to make more cedar logs; now these trees are used as garden trees. Their trunk is intentionally cut at a certain height, from which several branches grow. Bask in the afterglow of your rock garden visit, or rather you might feel refreshed being released from one puzzling garden.