BONSAI!!!

Where: Omiya & Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture & Tokyo
When: April 13 & 14, 2008
Who: Me, Elspeth and Elysaar (Elspeth's friend who was living in Tokyo)
Info: I was searching through my Japan guide and in tiny print read about the bonsai tree village in Omiya. A bonsai village? Yes, please. And off we went...


Apparently, after the 1923 earthquake, many bonsai artists moved to Omiya and it was officially established in 1925. Currently over 100 000 bonsai trees are cultivated in a 3 or 4 block area.

There are 8 major bonsai gardens in this area. Because the weather was kind of rainy and cool, we only visited 3 or 4 of them. We were the only people walking around and the area was kind of confusing. Oddly, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the gardens for some reason (are they afraid rival gardens will steal their designs??)....so these are all spy-photos.

Hey dad, ever wonder how they make the branches of the tree curve and bend? They make the tree metal braces to guide their growing...neat, huh?

(We all enjoyed the fused bottom of these trees. I wonder how they managed that?)

We wandered from garden to garden, sneaking photos and trying not to feel awkward (it was SO quiet). We got some looks from the gardeners/bonsai artists but a few stopped to explain certain aspects to Elspeth and Elysaar.

(Here I crouched down to avoid getting caught by the gardeners. The long tables were full of tiny trees that must've taken years to grow and train. It was pretty cool.)

Next we headed to Iwatsuki, a town famous for making beautiful Hina Matsuri dolls. We grabbed some lunch at the local Jusco and then took a peak in the Togyoku Doll Museum/store. Everything was insanely expensive ($7000 for a set of dolls that you put on display for about one month a year??? Noooowaaaaay) but really cool to look at. The amount of workmanship that went into each piece was amazing.

(Of course we couldn't walk by this without taking a picture!)

We caught a packed and sweaty train back to Tokyo and upon discovering that Elysaar had never been to Asakusa, we made our way over to check out Senso-ji. The place was crawling with tourists and tour groups even though the stores were closing.

(Need some omiyage? Looking for a specific souvenir? You'll find it here)

(The last time I was here, the gates were covered in scaffolding....now they're pretty...I love the lanterns.)

(An awesome way to display sembei)

(Elspeth and Elysaar warming their hands by the heat of the grill)

With stomachs growling and the temperature dropping, we popped into a yakiniku restaurant. Unfortunately, we had to wait until a table was free and then they told us we couldn't have the special because we hadn't ordered it in advance. Turns out it would've been too much meat. The selection we had was delicious and we left the restaurant full of beef.

Next stop was a game centre where we took the required purikura, played taiko and Elz and Elysaar did some DDR. Elysaar is the MASTER of DanceDanceRevolution. Seriously, that girl can dance the expert level and get near perfect. I just stood there in awe, Japanese people were gathering around to watch them and cheered when they finished. Woohoo, Elspeth and Elysaar!!

(Our hotel was near the Ban-Dai headquarters. Because it was raining, they had dressed a few of their major characters in raincoats)

The next day we went to Kawagoe, which is called 'Little Edo'. According to my guidebook it's a 'charming town reminiscent of an older Japan.' The major attractions are the kurazukuri. These are black merchant houses designed to protect residents against fire. A lighted candle left inside the sealed clay buildings deprived potential fires of the oxygen needed to burn. Unfortunately, a fire sweep through the town in 1893 and destroyed most of them.

We also visited Kita-In, where they are famous for their Gohyaku-Rakan. These are 540 statues of Buddha's disciples whose individual features are said to express every possible human emotion (although, as there were only male disciples...I highly doubt this).

The story goes that if you walk through this area at night and feel each statue until you find the warm one, mark it and return during the day, this statue will best reflect your inner being. Creepy...I wouldn't want to wander around here at night....

(Don't trust the monkeys...they'll always try to steal your money)

The guidebook mentioned a street filled with traditional Japanese candy stores. They described it as "Candy Land". Of course we had to visit Candy Land! Unfortunately, because it was a Monday, most of the stores were closed and the ones that were open were kind of depressing. Candy Land made me sad...

We returned to Tokyo with our candy and met Elysaar for dinner and ice cream (Coldstone's!). We ended up catching the second last shinkansen back to Nagoya and then the LAST train to Kanayama. Elspeth had to stay over because there were no trains back to Nisshin and she left early the next morning. Yeah for being the masters of the Japanese train system!!