Not really!
We returned from Japan last week and I’ve decided to edit my digital photos back home in NYC on my computer that’s already calibrated etc. But I wanted to at least share some of the phone photos I took on our day trip to view Mt. Fuji in the distance.
I hope to return to Japan sooner than later and once I get Tokyo out of my system I’d like to spend a week exploring the lakes that ring Mt. Fuji. I saw people riding rented bicycles and I was so jealous. It was such a peaceful contrast to Tokyo’s bustle.
Before we arrived in Tokyo we spent a few days in Kyoto and the main tourist thing we did there (beside go to Donki) was visit the Imperial Villa. It was pouring rain that day and we were a little late due to bus delays (though I have read that Japanese do not consider that an excuse—we should have budgeted a lot more time, which, fair). I was worried they wouldn’t honor our appointment but they did (while letting us feel that we should be embarrassed for putting them out). That was my experience in Japan basically—whenever I committed a social faux pas, I was given somewhat of a pass but I was made to feel a bit of shame and embarrassment. Which, sure, my bad!
What you see at the Imperial Villa are a series of “tea houses” which the family rotated among, depending upon the season because the grounds were built to resemble a mountain and valley and each tea house affords different views and each tea house is better suited to a specific season. When we reached one tea house that the tour guide said was inspired by the Chinese poet, Li Bai, my mother visibly perked up. It’s a bit of an ambivalent thing to visit Japan as someone with Taiwanese ancestry considering the colonial legacy, but going back to Li Bai, something that doesn’t often get talked about from an American pov is Sino supremacy and the many years in which China was culturally dominant in the region. My mother was pretty darned proud of Li Bai! (When she took ESL classes at the library many years ago she plagiarized Li Bai arguing, “Who’s going to know!”)
Anyway, like all the evidence of Chinese culture in Japan, another thing you notice is that hey, Mt. Fuji actually is kind of a big deal! Once you see it in person you understand what all the fuss has been about.
