Papu Mashi the nomad: Tokyo to Himeji on a Bullet Train

Tokyo to Himeji on a Bullet Train

Himeji was our destination and a Bullet train journey my dream. I knew about Japan’s legendary fast trains, and now it was a dream come true.”Shinkansen” as it is referred to in Japan, is a network of high speed railway lines linking the major cities. At a speed of nearly 320 km/hour, the 570 km (crow’s flight) distance from Tokyo to Himeji can be travelled in three and half hours. So let me begin this travelogue right from the beginning.

The Air India flight was from Mumbai to Tokyo via Delhi. The 6762km from Delhi to Tokyo was travelled in eight and a half hours. We arrived at Narita International Airport at about eleven in the morning, and took the Narita Express to Tokyo city center . The station had an old British type of architecture from the outside in one direction and a completely modern type of built in another direction. It is mind bogglingly huge from inside. We were going to spend a few hours in Tokyo before leaving for Himeji by the Bullet Train. So our first task was to find a locker for our luggage and a reservation on the train . The station is a labyrinth of shops , eateries, train exit points and may other facilities. Morning hours are always the rush hour with office goers and others who travel daily to their varied destinations from this central station. To negotiate all this and reach the lockers and the booking counter , proved to be a tough task for us, in spite of sign boards written in English. English is not the language spoken by most of the population here so we had to use sign language.

Tokyo Station from the exterior- Colonial style of architecture

Narita Express
Transport from Airport
to Tokyo railway station

Dome roof ceiling seen from the center of the lobby of the station

We had a few hours before we had to return to the station. Therefore we could choose one tourist spot that was not too far away from the station. We chose to visit the Imperial Palace . We walked to the palace grounds ambling through the streets and asking for directions. It wasn’t too difficult to reach the palace . The Palace covered a very large area as all such palaces should. But then it was in the middle of Tokyo where space is prime and precious. The palace area looked more like a fort from the outside , bordered by a high stone wall and a moat. There are arched bridges across the moat at various points and one can cross over into the palace. Only one entrance is always open to the public. The high surrounding wall had something like watch towers as part of the stone wall corners. These are built in the Japanese pagoda style of architecture, and white washed all through, and have grey- black roofs. We walked around the wall and moat absorbing the beauty of tree lined walk path and the stylized spruce trees, before entering the premises. Only the East Garden and some of the main quarters of the former Edo Castle are open to the public. Quite close to the entry gate there was an information post and exhibition hall. The exhibits were mainly the emperor and his family’s clothes, and few other artifacts of his daily use. The silk garments were exquisitely embroidered with flowers, clouds, grass, water lilies, fish, flying egrets, cranes and much more. The embroidery was fine and delicate, with soothing colored threads. Other than this exhibition hall, there are a few other scattered structures that house other exhibition areas and administrative rooms. Most of these are preserved and renovated original buildings in the traditional Japanese style. The rest of the premises that was open to the public was mainly gardens that we walked around in with a few more pagoda styled small houses, made of wooden walls. Most of the wood is left with its original color. In general the use of paint is minimal. The sloping roofs with curled up edges had the typical style of ridges that end with some sort of emblem cut in grey stone. I got a closer look at this type of roof at Himeji Castle. The gardens had lily ponds with gold fishes and cute bridges. In this season (August-September) the garden is green with well manicured grass, pine trees, weeping willows, cherry blossom trees , bamboo shoot groves, orchards of pear, peach and plum and a lot more. We walked through the asthetically pruned shrubs bushes and trees to reach the main Palace. Very little remains of the palace. Only the high elevated ground made of stone remains. The wooden structure has been burnt down long ago.

Entrance gate to the Imperial palace at Tokyo.

High stone wall and moat surrounding the Imperial Palace premises.

Stylized Spruce trees along the walk path surrounding the palace .

Garden, Pool and cute bridges inside the Palace grounds

Remains of the original Palace

Statue outside the imperial palace . Tokyo.

The Bullet Train

The Bullet Train.

We walked back to the station , then took some time to get our bearings inside the station and moved towards the “pay locker” , to collect our belongings. The elegant and sleek Bullet train slid into the station and we headed towards Himeji. A scan of Google map will show the train route and this map indicated that the train was going to partially circle Mount Fujiyama. Therefore at some point on the route I should be able to spot Fujiyama. The picture I had in mind or the view that I expected to see was the following. The perfectly symmetric slopes of the volcanic mountain with the top portion covered in snow, viewed through the branches of cherry blossom trees in full bloom and a bullet train moving from left to right in the picture frame. I did not see any of this. First of all this wasn’t the season for cherry blossoms and I was sitting inside the bullet train itself. In any case at some point of this journey I heard a collective sigh (Fujisan, Fujisan) from the other passengers and guessed that they had spotted Fujiyama. But Fujiyama eluded me. We reached Himeji at about 7:30 in the evening. It had already become dark . Our stay for the next three nights was at the “ Comfort Hotel”. After a good night’s sleep I was ready to explore Himeji the next day. The breakfast spread at the hotel had the usual fare of bread, butter ,jam ,and cornflakes and juices. In addition we could choose from the Japanese rice based dishes. I ate the Japanese dishes. Not that I liked it much. But then I was here to experience and explore the different.

Himeji is in the Kansai district and Hoyogo Prefecture and towards the east coast of Japan’s Honshu island. With a tourist brochure in hand, I headed towards Himeji castle. I walked through the shopping area and did a lot of window shopping. Once the shopping area is left behind one enters the area where most of the places of tourist interest is located. I spent the whole day in this area, beginning with the Himeji Castle. The castle is a world heritage site. The design is the pagoda style of architecture with three main pagoda turrets. The main pagoda was undergoing renovation. Therefore it was covered with scaffoldings and screen. The screen had a line drawing of the actual structure. The castle grounds had an entrance gate and the premises was surrounded by a moat. The entrance gate is a big barrier kind of structure, made of wood ,stone and metal. It is the “Water Chestnut Gate” and it gets this name because of the bell shaped wooden carved crest on the upper beam. I believe the bell shaped decorations are found in Zen Buddhism. The castle building has white colored walls and grey roof with black edge paint. It has been compared to a white flying bird and is nicknamed “White Heron Castle”. The pagoda styled structures are built on a high stone wall , that has a gentle slope but becomes steeper towards the top. This perhaps was built to defend against invaders climbing in. Various kinds of fortification can be found around the castle showing the unique defensive methods used then. For example there are walls built with regularly spaced rectangular holes. These were used as passage ways through which hot oil could be poured on the unsuspecting enemy. Before exploring the different parts of the castle one can go through the exhibits in the exhibition corner. Here I could see at close range the bell shaped stone structures that are generally found on the roof beams. The carved stone emblems that form the end point of the roof ridges were displayed too. Also the two ends of the roof that have curled up structures are actually two stone carved mythical creatures with a fish body and tiger head. To me they looked like two fishes, biting into the roof body. Himeji castle is from Japan’s feudal era and the castle was owned by different Lords over the centuries, the last being the Hondas. These owners had added to the building and expanded the castle complex over the years. A castle will always be associated with the “Samurai” or the legendary warriors of feudal Japan. So the exhibition rooms also includes the armor, sword, spear and many objects of defense and offence used by the Samurai. A wide range of crafts including wrought iron, leather work, metal work and lacquer work went into the making of the armor. These are now valued as historical art work. In fact the art of “Chokin” or metal engraving was originally created to decorate the armor of the “Samurai”.

Then I went into the souvenir shop to buy a 24KT gold edged decorative plate with an image of the castle engraved with gold- The Art of Chokin. Then I walked around the extended castle grounds to see shrines, gardens, pools and the greenery. I befriended a very affectionate and warm lady who volunteered to show me around, because she wanted to brush up on her English language and practice speaking it. She guided me to the Himeji City Museum of Art and left me there. I spent the afternoon here viewing the exhibits of a contemporary Japanese artist and also some European art exhibits, that were on display. The museum had a small library with various books on art and a cute coffee shop corner. The perfect combination to keep one happily glued to the Art Museum. During the next two hours I just relaxed flipping through the pages of traditional Japanese water painting prints , along with coffee and cake. I ended my tour that day at the Egret ,Himeji. It is a convention center and there was an ongoing conference and I had to meet my spouse there. Here I was able to attend a very interesting lecture on the scientific techniques being used to preserve the Japanese treasures and the speaker projected a few unusual pictures of Buddha’s statues (taken from different parts of Japan) in sitting postures that I haven’t seen in India. Researchers are using the most recent scientific techniques to probe, study and preserve the ancient statues and carvings of the Japanese temples , shrines and monasteries. To study the architectural history they have studied the different types of wood used in the carvings and statues. The wood can be graded by the grain size, radial structure, tangential patterns, density, odor and a few other parameters. It was found that Sandal wood is the best for statue carving because of its light golden color, its density and grain type and the fragrance, that I believe is the key to the preservation from decay. So sandal wood qualities were recognized in ancient Japan and it was the desirable material too. But then it was found only in the jungles of far away India. So the Japanese, used the Kaya (Japanese nutmeg tree) wood as a substitute for Sandal wood. The Kaya wood too has a light yellowish color and a lovely fragrance.

My next day’s trip was planned for Mt. Shosha Engyoji Temple . I took a “Shinki Bus” from the Terminal East Gate of Himeji station and within half an hour I was on the outskirts of the city and the scene had changed to rice fields and surrounding hills. Mt. Shosha can be reached via the Ropeway from the mountain foot station to the uphill station in a three minute ride. After that the Engyoji temple area can be reached by a small bus ride further uphill. The bus leaves you at the entrance after which the whole place can be experienced by following the walk trails. Many prefer to trek up to the monastery gate area. I took the bus because the trek involves a lot of uphill and down hill climb, sapping out one’s energy. The monastery nestled in the wooded region is not only beautiful but also gives one a feeling of peace and serenity. There were many Japanese maple trees (or “momiji”) and some of them were just beginning to change color. The five pronged leaf of these trees was much smaller than the maple leaf of the Canadian region or the similar “chinar” leaf of the North Indian Kashmir region. Engyoji Temple was founded in A.D 966, by a Buddhist priest named Shoku , who received enlightenment from the God of Wisdom and Intellect. It is a place of pilgrimage for the Japanese and one of the important training center for priests. The monks here wear grey and white robes. At the Temple office I picked up a “walking map” and spend the next few hours wandering about this sacred area. This place has many pagoda styled structures that is built of cut out and polished logs and no paint at all. The wood I suppose survives all seasons and the pagodas blend into the forest scenery. The first building that I saw was the Maniden Temple built along the rocky hillside on a complex wooden beams support. The two story pagoda structure sits on this support and there is a wide veranda running all around the main hall and everything is made of wood. To reach this veranda I climbed ninety eight steps. The temple has statues of Buddha in the main enclosure. I found devotees or pilgrims sitting on the floor and chanting prayers. This added to the spiritual and peaceful atmosphere here. As I walked around the veranda I saw green all around and when I looked down below , I could only see foliage, and the ninety eight steps were hidden in this greenery. Then I took the walk trail and found Daikodo Lecture Hall, Jikido Hall, and Jougyoudo Hall. These three structures are placed bordering a square courtyard like area and are built of wood in the “veranda” construction style . Jougyoudo Hall houses a massive statue of Buddha sitting in the “Padmasana” pose. This is the training hall for the monks. The hall is surrounded by a very wide veranda and this is used as a stage for performances of traditional Japanese music dance and drama. In fact while I was there a lot of activity was going on for a stage set up , for a performance in the evening. Daikodo lecture hall is used mainly as a place of education and work for the monks. Jikido Hall is a longish double storied pagoda that was used by monks as living quarters. And now the first floor houses a number of beautifully crafted statues of Buddha flanked by his disciples and surprisingly a statue of goddess “Durga” and “Mahisasura”(the demon) too. There was no mistaking the eight armed celestial being with weapons in each hand fighting to kill the buffalo incarnated “Mahisasura”. There were two sculpted creations. One depicted goddess “Durga” killing the buffalo and another depicted “Durga” stamping “Mahisasura” ( in the human form) triumphantly. Each of these statues had a legend but written in Japanese so I could not understand. I tried asking a person who seemed to be a caretaker of this place, but he did not understand English. The hill side is scattered with quite a few tiny temples , two bell towers ( or small pagodas housing the bell), Buddha statues, and even tombs. I wandered around , following the trails, till evening. I was wandering around this big monastic village, where the Hollywood movie “ The Last Samurai” was shot. Then I traced back my path to the ropeway station, and then to the foot of the hill and then I took the bus to Himeji city. My day ended at a banquet where I joined my spouse for a sumptuous dinner. There was a wide variety of dishes, Japanese and continental, including fish, chicken and vegetarian dishes. The spread was presented so beautifully that one had no other option but to taste all. The salads included radish sprouts that gave a pungent zing to the taste buds. Then of course there was sushi and sake to satisfy ones belly and heart. I was back at the “Comfort Hotel” by eleven o’clock at night and hit the bed immediately. We had to catch the early morning Bullet train.

We reached the station even before sunrise, when it had a deserted look. Soon it became a busy place and the train glided into the platform and we got into the unreserved compartment. This was a tip from our new found friend at Himeji. If one books a ticket for the unreserved compartment , definitely one risks traveling the entire route standing along the passageway of the compartment, but there is also the finite possibility of getting a seat. In this way we saved a few Yen. Luckily, since it was an early morning train we did get empty seats in the unreserved compartment.

We got off the train at Odawara station and two of our Japanese friends were waiting for us there. They were going to take us around one of the volcanic regions of Japan – The Hakone Volcano. It was a beautiful long drive through the cool hilly region, before we reached Lake Ashi. I reminded my friends that I still hadn’t seen Mt.Fuji and that I would hate to return from Japan without seeing Fujiyama. Lake Ashi is a caldera lake. We stood on the banks of the lake breathing in the cool air and feasting our eyes with the deep blue waters. A cruise ship stylized as a pirate ship floating on the water added to the picture perfect beauty. And then our friends squealed in delight because they had spotted Fujiyama. I looked in the direction of their pointing fingers and saw the bluish outline of the iconic volcano. It was far away, between other mountain peaks and peeping through a gap in the clouds. It is not that easy to spot Mt.Fuji. One has to concentrate and gaze for long in the right direction to decipher the mountain top that has been blown off by volcanic eruption. Our destination now was Togendai station, which is at one end of the long Ashi lake. We could take the cruise ship, but we chose to drive instead. This is because we wanted to get a better view of Mt. Fuji. So we took the hilly route. We did spot the Fuji top from some view points, but most of the time it was hidden behind a cloud cover. I think I will come back to Japan sometime to see Mt.Fuji at closer quarters and from a different direction.

From Togendai station we took the Hakone ropeway ride to Owakudani station. It is a twenty five minute ride above the tree line. A large part of the cable car gondola is made of glass so that one gets a 360 degree view as it moves up hill and above the trees. The ropeways length is about 4 km and there are quite a few gondolas moving up and down. The ride is quite delightful as one floats above the green earth and if one is lucky then even Fujiyama can be spotted along this route. The gondolas at a distance are like little bubbles with ears clipped on to the steel ropes. When we neared Owakudani station the distinct scent of sulfur greeted us. The whole Hakone region developed over thousands of years, beginning as a cluster of volcanoes. With major eruptions occurring one after another, small calderas were formed and then these claderas gathered forming the larger caldera with lava domes and cones like Mt. Kamiyama. Owakudani , translated as “ The Great Boiling Valley” is a result of the collapse of Kamiyama. So as we walked the hill side trails, the sign boards warned us -- Spending long hours in this area is injurious to health because of the spewing volcanic gas like hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide. On one side was the bronze exposed hillside with steam spewing vents and on another side we could see some greenery, where plants resistant to high ground temperature and acidic soil were growing. There were hot water springs, boiling pools and hot water streams, but the air at this height of 1040 meters was chilly and windy. The total scenery was different and it was an unique experience for us. We didn’t miss the boiled egg treat. Eggs were being boiled in the gushing hot water at one point. It is believed that eating one egg adds seven years to ones life. White eggs were dipped in the boiling water and they came out as black colored eggs. Some chemical reaction caused the egg shell to turn black only on the exterior and the boiled egg tasted like any other regular egg.

After the Hakone area tour we took the train route to Tokyo. We reached Tokyo after dark and the city was glittering with the tall buildings lit up with a variety of light emitting diodes in different colours and intensity. It was a night halt here before we flew back to India the next day.