Last weekend I went to Osaka, Kyoto, and a mountaintop temple town called Koya-san.

Koya-san was a town built around the temple built by the founder of the Japanese Shingon Buddhism sect, Kukai. Shingon Buddhism was one of the first sects of Buddhism that wasn’t taken wholesale from China, and it became popular throughout Japan. It is popular for people to have their mausoleums built nearby so that whenever the Buddha returns to earth they will reawaken along with Kukai. Even companies (I remember seeing Panasonic) have memorials there, although I’m not exactly sure how that works.

At some point there were over 1000 temples in the area, each associated with a certain region of Japan. When you went there on a pilgrimage, you went and had a chat with the guy at the main gate, and he sent you along to stay at the right temple based on where you came from. Now there are only a hundred or so temples left, but they still are the only place to stay on the mountain. They do web reservations now, however. I didn’t stay the night, only having learned about the place a few days before I left for Osaka.

Being as it is on the top of a mountain, it was chilly, about 10 degrees (Celsius) colder than down in Osaka. Luckily I had read up on Koya-san far enough ahead of time to know to dress a little more warmly. I rented one of the offered audio guides, and had a nice leisurely walk around the town. I also had a vegetarian lunch with one of the local specialties, sesame tofu. It’s a tofu variety made with sesame which has a different texture, more like a mix between a marshmallow and Jell-o. I had a hot-pot meal which was perfect for the chilly weather. Some of the leaves were even starting to turn! It was a nice quiet place and worth the trip.

My parents came to Japan! I was very excited to see them, and we had an excellent if tiring tour from Tokyo to Fukuoka. They are now on their own whirlwind tour of the standard Japanese Touristy Locales (Kyoto, Nara, Mt. Fuji etc.) and I am at work. I think they have the better end of the deal.

We spent two days in Tokyo, one at Tokyo Disney Sea, and then stopped in Himeji, Okayama, Kurashiki and Miyajima before making it back to my apartment in Kitakyushu. From there we took a day trip to Fukuoka and Dazaifu. By the end I was pretty tired. There’s only so many days of walking (at least) 8 hours a day that I can take.

My parents delved into the exciting lands of Japanese foods, and came out not so enthralled with the ryokan fare (too many unidentifiable foods, and Dad is apparently not a fan of the “rubbery” and “slimy” food groups which are so popular here), but seemed to do well with katsu, gyoza, okonomiyaki, and tempura. The meal at the Italian restaurant was definitely appreciated, however. The okonomiyaki dinner was probably the most adventurous location-wise, being a tiny little 10-seater counter place with the only menu being the plaques in Japanese on the wall, but they had a good time and enjoyed the food. I was pleased! My parents’ favorite dinner was at a restaurant under the train tracks near Ginza called “Andy’s Shin-Hinomoto.” Lots of little dishes to share, and the food was all tasty and well cooked. The only problem was that they were out of potatoes! My mother even tried to use chopsticks once or twice (but generally gave up for the more well-travelled fork)!

In Kurashiki we met the man who had sold his land to the city to make the visitor’s center for the historical area, and listened to him wax nostalgic about the nice garden they had ripped out and his process to move out of his remaining property. It was sad to hear him talk of getting everything ready for his passing, and to hear him talk of the things of his childhood that had been lost and changed, but fascinating nonetheless.

In Dazaifu I discovered that the long line was just for the special exhibit and not for the museum in general, so we went and saw of the prehistoric artifacts but not the special Buddhist artifacts.

Overall I had a great time, and enjoyed myself, and my only wish is that we could have had more time so we could take things more slowly.