My Last Day

Today was my final day in Japan and our plan was to stay local to explore Okayama. Hiroe, Masae's sister, joined us once again and we set out. Just a few minutes down the road from Masae's mother's house we reached our first stop, the Bitchu Kokubun-ji Temple. The five roofed temple makes a lovely silhouette against the sky and is surrounded by rice fields. This was a short stop along our journey, and after walking around the temple and covering the small grounds, we got back in the car and moved along.

There is a great bike path that can be followed through the Kibiji district in Okayama...next trip maybe!

Rice fields everywhere!

The striking five roofed temple

Photo from the temple grounds

This temple is over 200 years old!

Close up of the wood structure

There are Japanese tourists everywhere...even in Japan!

Our second stop was the Kibitsu Shrine (yep, there are a lot of these in Japan). As we explored the shrine, Masae told me that she had never been beyond the main building of the shrine—that meant it was time for a little exploring!

There are always a ton of stairs at the entrance to every shrine we have visited! Oy!

The cool entry way

Where we left our offering to the gods

The famous profile of the shrine's main building

Seeing Okayama from the shrine site

We came upon a gorgeous garden and waterfall, complete with a koi pond, and decided this was a perfect spot to take some photos and rest for a minute. Kahori was entranced by the large fish and proceeded to inch forward toward the pond so she could peer inside, all the while dragging her grandma by the hand to follow. I couldn’t help snapping a photo of her once she succeeded in getting close enough to see the fish.

Isn't this amazing?!

Koi pond

Masae and me

Kahori examining the koi pond

We continued our tour of the shrine by following one corridor after another. Walking through each passageway was really cool because of the way the pillars are aligned. Eventually we came across a small wooden building with smoke coming out of the window frame. Stopping to read the informational sign, we learned that this was a special type of purification room that we weren’t able to enter.

One of the many passageways we explored.

Details...

At this point I wasn’t really sure where we were in relationship to the parking lot, and I don’t think the others did either, so we just continued on our exploration. Across the road I spotted a pond with a fountain surrounded by more small structures, so off we went. We had found a little courtyard of sorts, which ended up leading us back to the car.

A fun discovery

Kahori peeking over the bridge rail

The ride into Okayama city was longer than I expected and I was thrilled when Hiroe pulled the car into the parking lot of an adorable bakery. Once inside I was overwhelmed by the selection of delicious baked goods. I ended up following Masae’s mother and choosing some of the same pastries she had selected. My favorite by far was the panda roll…it was super yummy! I snapped a few photos before we left and got myself in a bit of trouble with one of the workers. Oops! Stupid American tourist.

The inside of the bakery

Tasty choices

Those stinking cute (and delicious) panda and koala rolls

Masae wanted to take me to see her apartment in Okayama, which happened to be close by, but when we parked in front of the building she realized that she had left her housekeys at her mother’s house—it was a funny moment! Since she was determined to get in, we tracked down a spare set of keys from the rental company and went back. She had told me that her apartment was very small, but I was surprised at how little space she has to share with her husband and daughter. I have a fairly small one bedroom apartment in Seoul, but hers was about half that size! We sat down in the living room and she showed me her wedding video. It was such a lovely moment seeing how happy she was at her wedding. Eager to keep us moving, Masae grabbed a few more photo albums for later and herded us back to the car. By this time we were all hungry so we stopped for sushi (two times in one week, what a treat!) at a restaurant with the longest sushi conveyor belt in Okayama. I chose some of my favorites from the night before and was coaxed into trying a few new concoctions, which were delicious!

The rest of our afternoon was spent in downtown Okayama to hit the sights from my guidebook. Hiroe dropped us off at the entrance to the Korakuen Gardens--they are supposed to be the third most beautiful in all of Japan. Masae, her mother, and I proceeded into the gardens and spent the next half hour following the walking paths from one end to the other. We stopped to visit the cranes, admire the landscaping, and take a few photos amongst the peaceful scenery. Masae told me about her friend who had gotten married and had her reception at the gardens. Tomorrow night the gardens will also be the site of a moon festival to celebrate the harvest moon. When we came to the opposite end of the garden we crossed over the river on a bridge and went straight to Okayama castle.

During the new year celebration, the cranes are let out to roam the garden.

One side of the pond

And the other...

Traditional boathouse

A cool view of the garden

Heading toward Okayama Castle

The castle was destroyed and rebuilt within the last two hundred years, but the structure is still beautiful and intriguing. The three of us hiked up to the top level to start our tour and learned about palace life as we descended. We saw a group of guys taking pictures in some sort of vehicle and Masae decided we should do the same—oh the fun of traveling! Sadly we arrived too late for me to be dressed in a kimono and photographed, but that will give me something new to do with my family when we come back in the summer.

The view of the castle from the front

The city of Okayama

An interesting critter adorning the roof

Taking a ride in some sort of ancient vehicle

Now it is Masae's turn!

Hiroe was waiting for us when we finished at the castle and drove us several blocks into downtown where we hopped out of the car again to catch the streetcar. The system is very similar to what we have in downtown Portland and makes for a fun way to see the city. We rode a couple of stops in the air-conditioned car (heaven), then jumped off and went straight for Starbucks to get a late afternoon pick-me-up. When Masae travels she likes to stop at McDonald’s in foreign lands…I go for Starbucks! We took our beverages and cruised through the specialty foods floor of a department store similar to the one we have in Sinchon before meeting Hiroe at the car again. By now we were all tired, so we made one last stop to pick up treats from Masae’s apartment, return the borrowed keys, and headed back to her mother’s house for dinner. Even though we weren’t far from home we managed to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time!

I spent this evening looking at photo albums with Masae, hearing about her travels, discussing my upcoming travel plans, and sharing about my school. As I packed Masae told Kahori to tell me “bye bye” before she went to bed. We are heading for the airport at 7am tomorrow and she will most likely still be sleeping. Kahori decided that she wanted to go with me so she went to the entryway and sat down to put her shoes on! What a cutie! I’ve managed to stuff everything back into my suitcase and I’m about to go to bed—I can’t believe this trip is already over. Although it started out a little rough, I have had such an amazing experience here. The hospitality that Masae and her family have shown me is beyond anything I could have expected. It just blows my mind when I think about what we have seen and done in four days, and that we were able to reconnect after twenty years. Masae told me tonight that I am going to come back many times to Japan and I think she might be right!