Another summer vacation and another trip to Japan has come and gone. Since I don’t seem to do much else with this website (except paying for the annual domain name bill, slightly adjusting my self-introduction every now and then and updating the list of stuff I’ve written with my newest work), I thought the annual summer trip should offer a good opportunity to write something here.
The biggest change from last year was that tourists were back. I imagine it must be a huge lifesaver for all the tax-free-service touting pharmacies and other shops aimed at tourists that line the streets of (among others) Dotonbori in Osaka and Shijo in Kyoto. Naturally, the resurgence in foreign tourism has again led to grumbles of “tourist pollution” among locals, particularly in Kyoto. Personally, I think it’s nice that tourists are back, as it means more people get to visit and experience country that I love – but also understand that for those commuting on buses in Kyoto, the return of visitors with their big suitcases is a cause for concern.
As for the weather: it was hot and humid, but there weren’t as many scorching hot and sunny days as last year when we visited in July. Despite fears that traveling to Japan during the height of the rainy season might mean needing to carry an extra pair of socks and a spare t-shirt wherever we went, it also wasn’t particularly rainy.
As always, we spent a lot of time in Kyoto, but our annual trip-within-a-trip had us visiting Izumo in Shimane prefecture. When we visited the Izumo Shrine, there weren’t as many people as I had expected – June isn’t the main tourist season for the area, I suppose. Visiting the shrine was worth the 5-hour one-way trip from Kyoto. The size of the building where the god is enshrined (the honden) made a real impression: there was a small element of revelation involved, as you could only grasp its massive size when you walked along the perimeter wall surrounding it.
The trip to Izumo from Okayama and back was on board the Izumo special express, a truly beautiful train that I wish I had taken more (competent) photos of. Views from the train during the trip between the two cities were spectacular, as it ran next to a shallow mountain river snaking its way through narrow mountain valleys and ravines, from the coast of the almost Mediterranean-like Seto Inland Sea to the coastline of the cold Sea of Japan. The train ride again reminded me of how beautiful Japan can be.
Culinary highlight of the whole trip: lunch at a seafood restaurant on Awaji Island. Really, everything (a lot of sashimi) we ate on the island was pretty good, except maybe the highway rest stop spaghetti dish that was more udon than spaghetti (it was still good, though).
As for the event highlight of the trip: we went to see Kyoto Sanga F.C. play Yokohama FC (highlights here) at Kyoto Sanga’s home stadium in Kameoka, a semi-rural city a 20-minute train ride away from Nijo Station in Kyoto City. Despite its proximity to the city – though separated from it by a tall mountain range – Kameoka is a semi-rural commuter town, with the almost brand-new Kyocera Stadium where Sanga plays flanked by rice paddies.
Last year, people still wore masks, and cheering and yelling were forbidden: this year, no such limitations were in place, and most spectators, somewhat to my surprise, went mask-free. This made a huge difference in the atmosphere, with the Kyoto ultras singing more or less non-stop for 90 minutes (the chorus of the most popular song was “our hearts burn purple,” or something like that, a reference to the purple color of home team’s kit).
The game was a real nail-biter, as the home town went down 0-1 before turning it around with two headers. A real boost for the team which had, apparently, widely been viewed as sitting on the precipice of being relegated down to J2 after barely avoiding relegation last year. I hope they stay up this year (the team is 15th at the moment).
That’s all for this year’s trip.
Eero Tuorila 