Japan
- Thread starter uncgriff
- Start date
- Replies: 15
- Views: 393
- Off-Topic
sringwal
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 1,802
Went a few years ago for the first time. Stayed in Tokyo, the mountains, and Kyoto. I love Kyoto.
Going again next spring, just in time for the end of cherry blossom seasons. Will be spending most of the time in Tokyo and Nara - which is between Osaka and Kyoto and includes a famous deer park.
If you have time while you are in Tokyo, stop by St. Luke's hospital (the building is particularly beautiful at night) and check out the Teusler House and plaque dedicated to my great-grandfather, Rudolf Teusler, who funded the building of the hospital.
Here's a link about the history of the hospital, including my family's role in its creation, and some photos.
https://hospital.luke.ac.jp/eng/about/history/index.html
Hospital itself:
A recreation of the Teusler family home, right outside the hospital:
A plaque dedicated to my grandfather
Going again next spring, just in time for the end of cherry blossom seasons. Will be spending most of the time in Tokyo and Nara - which is between Osaka and Kyoto and includes a famous deer park.
If you have time while you are in Tokyo, stop by St. Luke's hospital (the building is particularly beautiful at night) and check out the Teusler House and plaque dedicated to my great-grandfather, Rudolf Teusler, who funded the building of the hospital.
Here's a link about the history of the hospital, including my family's role in its creation, and some photos.
https://hospital.luke.ac.jp/eng/about/history/index.html
Hospital itself:
A recreation of the Teusler family home, right outside the hospital:
A plaque dedicated to my grandfather
- Messages
- 2,269
If there are any giant monster sightings, it’s best to avoid the urban areas as they tend to destroy much of the infrastructure, creating substantial risk of injury or death.
- Messages
- 3,181
My younger daughter has been a world traveler visiting Cuba, Japan, Iceland, Morocco, Costa Rico, Canada and Mexico ( of course ) and other countries.
She says in Tokyo :
Visit Harajuku for shopping
Eat the weird but tasty ice cream flavors... saki,wasabi,sesame
Go to to the Kawaii Monster Cafe
Take a day trip to Nara to feed the deer and see the giant Buddha
Visit the Tsukiji fish market
- Messages
- 2,904
I think it would probably be in my top 3 too, in terms of places I haven't been before. Not necessarily in order:
1. Australia/New Zealand
2. Japan
3. Iceland
- Messages
- 3,181
My world traveler daughter tells me Cuba was her favorite by far followed by Iceland which she has visited twice and Morocco
- Messages
- 1,259
If you have time in Hiroshima go to Miyajima Island, it famously has the big Torii gate in the water. Cool older buildings, good food and off the tourist trail.
In Tokyo it’s fun to go to a listening bar, where some old codger with a giant ass record collection and a good sound system spins vinyl and serves simple drinks. Also recommend popping into the tiny bars and restaurants like Golden Gai in Shinjuku. People are really friendly and it’s like you walked into Midnight Diner on Netflix (great show if you’re a Japanophile).
Also in Tokyo check out Shimo-Kitizawa. Really cool neighborhood with outdoor record markets, tons of great shops and a Bear Pond cafe, some of the best coffee arguably in the world.
In Tokyo it’s fun to go to a listening bar, where some old codger with a giant ass record collection and a good sound system spins vinyl and serves simple drinks. Also recommend popping into the tiny bars and restaurants like Golden Gai in Shinjuku. People are really friendly and it’s like you walked into Midnight Diner on Netflix (great show if you’re a Japanophile).
Also in Tokyo check out Shimo-Kitizawa. Really cool neighborhood with outdoor record markets, tons of great shops and a Bear Pond cafe, some of the best coffee arguably in the world.
JCTarheel82
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 2,038
"temple stay" may sound hokey but a visit to a temple at koyasan (Mt Koya) was a neat experience. It's a bit off the beaten path. Even if you didn't stay in a temple, Mt Koya itself (primarily the cemetery) was a big highlight for us. The journey was actually fun, though a teeny bit daunting- 4+ hrs of trains involving something like 6 legs including the cable-car up the mtn.
HesNaughtHere
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 51
Spent two weeks in Japan in May this year. Really really incredible place and the people there were so kind.
Im not sure if you can still get reservations, but Saihoji temple in Kyoto was one of my personal highlights
saihoji-kokedera.com
Im not sure if you can still get reservations, but Saihoji temple in Kyoto was one of my personal highlights
Saihoji | Kokedera (Moss Temple)
The official website of Saihoji Rinzai Zen Temple, which is registered as a World Heritage site. The Garden of Origins and Journeys. Visits to the temple must be reserved in advance.
saihoji-kokedera.com
sringwal
Iconic Member
- Messages
- 1,802
How is
How is the trip going? What are some of your highlights?
Last edited:
- Messages
- 1,755
Spent about five weeks in Japan in the Summer of 1971. This trip was kicked off by receiving a notice in 1968 of the 1969 National Boy Scout Jamboree. I misread the letter and thought the total cost of attending was $20. But that was only the registration fee. For about a day I was really pumped because I KNEW I could save $20 over the course of a year. Well actually $10, because I knew I could get $5 from each living grandparent for something like a National Jamboree. When I re-read the article, I realized that in addition to the $20 registration fee there was an additional $200 attendance fee. I was really bummed because I KNEW I could never save $200 over the course of just a year.
After a couple of days of seeing me mope around, my father demanded to know what was going on. So, I told him. He nodded sagely and agreed with my assessment on how much I could save in a year. But then he added, that while the National Jamboree and the World Jamboree were each held every four years, they were spaced two years apart. So, the next World Jamboree would be held in 1971 and I would have THREE years to save for that. My father encouraged me to write to the Boy Scouts and get info on the 1971 World Jamboree.
I did. The 1971 World Jamboree was held in Fuji National Park in Japan during the last two weeks of July. Half the US Scouts arrived three weeks early for sightseeing and the other half departed 3 weeks after the Jamboree finished to sightsee. And the cost for the trip--which was five weeks in Japan and included a place to sleep each night (in tents during the Jamboree), three meals a day (which we cooked during the Jamboree), flights to/from Japan, and transport (including riding the "Bullet Train" from Kyoto to Tokyo) to all the places we would visit in Japan--was $800 dollars.
When I told my Dad this, he gave me a twenty-dollar bill, drove me over to the local bank, and we opened a saving account with that $20 bill. For the next two and half years, I scrimped and saved every nickel and dime that made its way into my greedy hands. Mowed lawns, raked leaves, picked peaches, topped, suckered, and cropped tobacco, and told everyone I knew that I did not want any Christmas or birthday presents other than cold, hard cash.
By the spring of 1971, payment was due just a couple of weeks after I got my income tax refund and that refund put me over my fund-raising target. I went down to my father's store to tell him I was going withdraw $800 from the saving account, get a certified check, and mail the registration form in. My Dad told me to just withdraw the $800, give it to him, and he would write a personal check for the registration fee. Thus, saving me the cost of getting a check from the bank.
Man-oh-man, that was a fun trip! Our "troop" consisted of four adult leaders and forty Scouts, all from Eastern NC. The Boy Scouts were split about a quarter who spent years saving up for trip and about three quarters who had rich parents and those rich parents just paid for the trip. During a pre-Jamboree weekend camping trip for everyone from NC, I quickly found that those who had worked and saved for the trip would be doing about 90% of the cooking, cleaning, and setting-up/maintaining of the camp and those who parents paid for the trip did about 10% of the work. But that was OK. Anytime one of the rich kids tried to do anything, they'd just screw it up. It was easier and quicker to just to it right the first time.
I was 16 years old that summer. We departed Tokyo on the day I turned 17. A couple of hours after we took off from Tokyo, we crossed the International Date Line and I was 16 again. One of the adult leaders had told the stewardesses about my "second birthday" and shortly after the captain had announced we had crossed over the International Date Line, a group of stewardesses brought me a small birthday cake, with the candles unlit, and serenaded me with "Happy Birthday." And this was back when not only were all stewardesses smoking hot but were all also only a few years older than me. It was almost more than my poor little 16-year-old heart (and eyes) could take. We refueled in Anchorage and continued on Charlotte where we were to board a bus back to Eastern NC. But the bus had been cancelled because all the parents decided to just drive to Charlotte and pick up their sons.
When I got home, I amazed both my living grandparents, my parents, my four sisters, and two brothers by digging out gifts I had bought for each of them in Japan. As both grandparents, both parents, two of my sisters, and one of my brothers died in subsequent years, every one of the gifts I had given them had been retained and was given back to me.
ETA: One of the highlights of the Jamboree was that Japan got hit by Typhoon Olive and the remnants of Olive passed over the Jamboree site with wind gusts up to 90 mph, but sustained winds below that of a hurricane. The Scouts could have charged extra for that typhoon if they had only known it was coming. Got some first-hand experience on at what wind speed you just have to take a knee, hunker-down, and wait for the gust to subside a bit. The Boy Scouts had a blast. The adult leaders, not so much.
After a couple of days of seeing me mope around, my father demanded to know what was going on. So, I told him. He nodded sagely and agreed with my assessment on how much I could save in a year. But then he added, that while the National Jamboree and the World Jamboree were each held every four years, they were spaced two years apart. So, the next World Jamboree would be held in 1971 and I would have THREE years to save for that. My father encouraged me to write to the Boy Scouts and get info on the 1971 World Jamboree.
I did. The 1971 World Jamboree was held in Fuji National Park in Japan during the last two weeks of July. Half the US Scouts arrived three weeks early for sightseeing and the other half departed 3 weeks after the Jamboree finished to sightsee. And the cost for the trip--which was five weeks in Japan and included a place to sleep each night (in tents during the Jamboree), three meals a day (which we cooked during the Jamboree), flights to/from Japan, and transport (including riding the "Bullet Train" from Kyoto to Tokyo) to all the places we would visit in Japan--was $800 dollars.
When I told my Dad this, he gave me a twenty-dollar bill, drove me over to the local bank, and we opened a saving account with that $20 bill. For the next two and half years, I scrimped and saved every nickel and dime that made its way into my greedy hands. Mowed lawns, raked leaves, picked peaches, topped, suckered, and cropped tobacco, and told everyone I knew that I did not want any Christmas or birthday presents other than cold, hard cash.
By the spring of 1971, payment was due just a couple of weeks after I got my income tax refund and that refund put me over my fund-raising target. I went down to my father's store to tell him I was going withdraw $800 from the saving account, get a certified check, and mail the registration form in. My Dad told me to just withdraw the $800, give it to him, and he would write a personal check for the registration fee. Thus, saving me the cost of getting a check from the bank.
Man-oh-man, that was a fun trip! Our "troop" consisted of four adult leaders and forty Scouts, all from Eastern NC. The Boy Scouts were split about a quarter who spent years saving up for trip and about three quarters who had rich parents and those rich parents just paid for the trip. During a pre-Jamboree weekend camping trip for everyone from NC, I quickly found that those who had worked and saved for the trip would be doing about 90% of the cooking, cleaning, and setting-up/maintaining of the camp and those who parents paid for the trip did about 10% of the work. But that was OK. Anytime one of the rich kids tried to do anything, they'd just screw it up. It was easier and quicker to just to it right the first time.
I was 16 years old that summer. We departed Tokyo on the day I turned 17. A couple of hours after we took off from Tokyo, we crossed the International Date Line and I was 16 again. One of the adult leaders had told the stewardesses about my "second birthday" and shortly after the captain had announced we had crossed over the International Date Line, a group of stewardesses brought me a small birthday cake, with the candles unlit, and serenaded me with "Happy Birthday." And this was back when not only were all stewardesses smoking hot but were all also only a few years older than me. It was almost more than my poor little 16-year-old heart (and eyes) could take. We refueled in Anchorage and continued on Charlotte where we were to board a bus back to Eastern NC. But the bus had been cancelled because all the parents decided to just drive to Charlotte and pick up their sons.
When I got home, I amazed both my living grandparents, my parents, my four sisters, and two brothers by digging out gifts I had bought for each of them in Japan. As both grandparents, both parents, two of my sisters, and one of my brothers died in subsequent years, every one of the gifts I had given them had been retained and was given back to me.
ETA: One of the highlights of the Jamboree was that Japan got hit by Typhoon Olive and the remnants of Olive passed over the Jamboree site with wind gusts up to 90 mph, but sustained winds below that of a hurricane. The Scouts could have charged extra for that typhoon if they had only known it was coming. Got some first-hand experience on at what wind speed you just have to take a knee, hunker-down, and wait for the gust to subside a bit. The Boy Scouts had a blast. The adult leaders, not so much.
Last edited: