Friday 31 October 2014

Kanazawa and Halloween


  

Halloween already!  Tokyo is paying homage and even the girls from the frankly rather creepy 'maid clubs'  are dripping with fake blood.   My photo, though,  shows the menu of the respectable little restaurant next door to my hotel.

Japan has been fascinating and unexpected.   Unexpected to me anyway. We're just back from Kanazawa with our friend Rie who's been translating and explaining the many things that we're baffled by, (what various foods and implements are for instance  - I nearly bought some pickled fish thinking 
it was candy). 

We're also accompanied in Kanazawa by Chris from Japan Experience the travel company which has helped me for some of the trip. He's a lot of fun and I feel we've seen a side of the city that most visitors don't see. Here are Chris and Rie doing the Kanazawa version of the Beatles'  "Abbey Road"  cover. 


One of the places we visited was Oyama shrine which has great modern sculpture in its grounds and coloured glass in its tower

Stained and coloured glass is not a Japanese traditional craft.  Dutch stained glass was brought over several centuries ago to Japan when the country was still mostly closed to the outside world.  The shrine was established in 1599 but moved to this location in the 1870s. By then, I suppose coloured glass seemed like  a smart Western style to use  in this beautiful shrine, specially as Kanazawa has a strong artistic tradition. Can you see it in the top window of the tower?  

We also understand that the central area of the pathway is reserved for gods but I'm afraid we walked down it anyway! 


Here is more sculpture. 



There's a tiny gold frog on this Alice in Wonderland leaf. 

 
To get back to Halloween,  I found this image in my files. Looks like a prompt a for a Halloween story, doesn't it?   In fact, it's a prop, and at a particular point in the performance, it swoops out at the audience.   Scary!  But not quite so scary when the audience has just left and the  lights are up. 

 
Happy Halloween! 

27 comments:

  1. A really enjoyable post, Jenny. Now I'm wishing I'd had the chance to visit Japan. It all seems so wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Halloween to you and yours!

    Beautiful pictures. Its nice to read about your travels in Japan.
    Its a refreshing change from the usual travels I read about.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good Lord! Halloween and Kwanza in Japan?!
    I never would have thought.
    Beautiful!
    (How were the pickled fish?)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like you're having a fab time, soaking up the culture - and treading in the footsteps of the Gods to boot! It's interesting that such an intensely old European tradition, All Hallows Eve, has made it to Japan.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the gold frog on the huge leaf!
    The path reserved for the gods - no, I don't think I would have walked on it. Although I am generally not a superstitious character, I do, for instance, try to avoid stepping on the tombstones that sometimes form part of the paved floor in old churches. I know those who are buried underneath are long past caring, but I still do care; it was a human life, after all.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful pictures, you must be having a great time, loved the little frog. My daughter is always showing pictures of Halloween in Fukuoka, they seem to enjoy it, but no trick or treating.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy Halloween, and i hope Japan continues to be fun and interesting and exotic.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gorgeous pictures - those sculptures are amazing x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Beautiful !
    I adore the sculptures and the little gold frog.

    cheers, parsnip

    ReplyDelete
  10. Halloween has made it to Japan!! Is it part of their culture, or an American import? Looks fun, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Jenny - it looks as if you are having a wonderful visit to Japan - I can imagine Japan embracing Halloween.
    Thank you for taking the time to comment on my blog, isn't is amazing the way you can do that as you travel around?
    I am travelling myself in a few days time, but will not be blogging - I do not have the means to. Continue to enjoy your trip.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's great you've got a guide who is prepared to take you off the beaten track...to see and experience places the regular tourists don't get to enjoy.

    Everything looks so fresh and litter-free...where're we off to next? I can't wait. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love Japanese architecture and you captured it so well in your photos. What a great trip that must be. Happy Halloween.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow I'd never have thought the Japanese would do Hallowe'en too! Looks as if you're having a wonderful time, Jenny!

    ReplyDelete
  15. You really make me want to visit Japan. Happy Halloween.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi Jenny, I love hearing about your adventures in Japan. While you are doing different things and going different places than I did, it brings back such a feel of this fascinating country! I know what you mean about the pickled fish! There is a joke in our family that harkens back to when Rick visited eons ago. He brought back candy for the kids but also did a 'trick' where one of the bags had wrapped pretty bits that were actually more like a bouillon or fish cube. Of course, when I came over they had to share with me. But I could tell from their oversell and the sparkle in their eyes that it was a trick and encouraged them -- "I couldn't possibly take your piece. You enjoy it -- it will make me smile to see you enjoying it!" Well, the whole joke fell apart and we all had a wonderful laugh! I should also tell you that Rick has in his cupboard a bag of very old, expired boxed and bagged food from Japan that he considers his souvenirs! He just likes looking at them. I made him put it in a bag so we wouldn't cook it by mistake! Can't wait for more from you!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I learn so much from your posts Jenny. But then that's one of the joys of blogging.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Isn't it special and exciting when you get to see stuff that "regular" tourists don't get to see?

    ReplyDelete
  19. It's great to have the chance to see something of your big adventure.
    That theatrical ghost is the real phantom of the opera!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Sounds like a really fascinating trip.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Oyama shrine is very y unique. Shrine’s gate is “tori” but the shrine has such the gate, mixture of Chinese, Western, and Japanese. I think your thought is right as there was the time right after Meiji Restoration when Western architectural style was earnestly favored in the wave of westernization. The sculpture (4th) doesn’t look like Japanese but the lotus leaf (5th) is common at the Buddhist temples. I smiled to know you enjoyed seeing Halloween in Japan. Japanese cosplayers seem to have taken advantage of Halloween. Have a good time in Kyoto. See you soon,

    Yoko

    ReplyDelete
  22. Pickled fish that looked like candy? That would have been disappointing.

    I love the skydiving cherub, or whatever it's doing in that crazy pose.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Such a fun post! I had a friend in high school who was from Japan, so I've always wanted to visit there.

    ReplyDelete
  24. What a lovely blog and amazing photos. As an anxious traveller, I'm always admiring of people who do it as a matter of course. Pickled fish sounds fine, except when it's instead of candy.

    ReplyDelete
  25. It would be a bit of a shock if you put pickled fish in your mouth when you were expecting candy. Good thing you found out in time. Looks like you are having a fine time and enjoying a bit of the back roads in Japan.

    Darla

    ReplyDelete
  26. Gorgeous photos. I loved the Abbey Road one! :-)

    Greetings from London.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I was going to jokingly ask you if you ran into my fellow OR nurse who was visiting Japan (&her sister) this week. But when I noticed your translator is called Rie too, I begin to wonder if I would be really joking.

    So much beauty in a rather small country. Amazing.

    ReplyDelete

Blog Archive