Final Travel Days In Japan For Students

Clarkstown North and South High School Japanese Teacher Uchiyama has been leading 23 students on a two-week tour of Japan. They left Sunday, July 1. Uchiyama has been keeping family, friends and New City Patch updated on their trip. 

This installment, which covers Days 12 and 13 and their scheduled return on Saturday, was relayed by her husband. He has also been providing background information about the places they are visiting.

Minasan konbanwa!  (Good evening everyone!)

The group is staying at the New Miyako Hotel, which is across the street from the Kyoto train station. The Kyoto train station is an ultra modern facility that opened in 1997 and presents a very different image of Kyoto than that of traditional Japan.  It is 15 stories of nearly every service one could imagine including a hotel, a theater, a museum and many dining and shopping options.  It's said that one could live one's entire life here without having to set foot outside though, of course, I don't know why anyone would want to try. 

The group's agenda for Day Eleven included visits to Nijojo (Nijo Castle -- the suffix "jo" means castle), the International Manga Museum (both identified in the map of central Kyoto) and Daitokuji temple (identified in the map of northern Kyoto east of Kinkakuji).
   
Nijo castle was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu (we'd write Ieyasu Tokugawa -- the Japanese custom is to write/say the family name before one's given name). He was the first shogun of the Edo period of Japanese history, which ran from 1603 through 1868, when the Meiji Restoration took place and the Emperor Meiji became the ruler of Japan instead of the shogunate.  The castle was finally completed by Tokugawa Ieyasu's grandson 23 years later.  It, too, is a World Heritage site.   

It is an extensive castle with three main areas:  Honmaru (the main circle of defense), Ninomaru (a secondary, inner circle of defense) and gardens that encircle the Honmaru and Ninomaru.  There are stonewalls and moats surrounding the gardens.  The photos show the Karamon Gate, the entrance to the Ninomaru and the Ninomaru Palace.

Next came the Kyoto International Manga (comic book) Museum.  Manga are very popular among all age groups in Japan and one can literally find manga for every conceivable story type or interest. 

Unlike comic books in the US, which still tend to have limited readership despite the popularity of various characters as portrayed in films and television, millions of manga will be sold and read on a weekly basis.  This museum has four levels of manga with the visitor having the ability to browse through the museum's holdings.

Daitokuji, a large and famous Zen temple (Buddhist) was the scheduled next stop.  The temple was founded in 1319 and became linked to the tea ceremony associated with tea ceremony master Sen no Rikyu. 
When the group returned to the hotel, they were expected to spend the evening working on a video in which everyone recorded messages for residents of Fukushima.

Minasan ohayo gozaimasu!  (Good morning everyone!)

On the group’s final day in Japan, they left Kyoto at 9:20 a.m. to return to Osaka and followed by a quick visit to Kobe.  Briefly, Osaka (the third largest city in Japan) and Kobe (the sixth largest city) are in what's known as the Kansai region of Japan.  It is made up of seven prefectures (states) and, historically, was the political and cultural center of Japan for many centuries.

Upon returning to Osaka, the group visited Osakajo (Osaka castle). The map of greater Osaka identifies Osaka Castle. Construction of the castle began in 1583 and it has been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times over the years. 

The park surrounding the castle is one of the most popular hanami (cherry blossom viewing spots) in the Osaka.  The cherry blossom (sakura) is Japan's unofficial national flower.  It is highly valued in Japanese culture. 

Hanami (flower viewing) is a very popular pastime in Japan.  In parks where cherry trees are concentrated, it's common for groups of friends to stake out an area under the trees when the blossoms are in full bloom, bringing a picnic lunch and, possibly, some adult beverages.  Enjoying the beauty of the trees brings great pleasure and peace to many. 

The group missed the cherry blossom-viewing season as this typically falls in April.  Media reports on the growth of the flowers to alert the public to peak viewing times is very common.  The park surrounding Osaka castle is shown in the photo.

After lunch in Osaka, the group took a short trip to Kobe, presumably by train.  Kobe is an important port city.  We probably know it best as the site of a devastating earthquake in 1995 that killed over 5,000 people and destroyed tens of thousands of buildings.  The city is completely rebuilt. The group probably visited the Earthquake Museum (below, right).

For their last night in Japan, the group stayed at the Osaka Ramada Hotel.   I'm sure everyone must be pretty tired by this point in the trip, but I have no doubt that their kizuna -- bond -- has grown very strong indeed.  Hopefully this last night saw the group having a special dinner and, of course, packing for the trip home.  I know they will have a very early wake up call the morning of Day 14, so I hope everyone was able to get to sleep early. 

Minasan ohayo gozaimasu!  (Good morning everyone!)

The group awoke to a 4:45 a.m. wake up call.  After breakfast, they left the hotel at 6:15 a.m. to catch an 8 a.m. flight from Osaka Airport to Haneda Airport (the other major airport in addition to Narita that serves the greater Tokyo area) for a 9 a.m. arrival.  From Haneda, they took a bus to Narita Airport expecting to arrive by 11 a.m. 

I'm sure they had some time to relax, have some lunch and do some last minute shopping.  Narita is a very nice airport with a lot of facilities to do all those things while one waits for one's flight.  There is even a nice observation deck up on the 5th floor

The group's return flight, Delta 173, left four minutes early, at 3:06 p.m. Tokyo time (that would be 2:06 a.m. Saturday morning, our time) and is presently scheduled to arrive about 2:30 p.m. One of the neatest aspects of the return flight is arriving before having left -- is the International Date Line great or what? 

The group is expected to arrive at the Clarkstown High School South parking lot between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday.