Japan 2009 ~ Part 2 - Awaji: Yumebutai

Day 1: morning ~ Awaji, Yumebutai

it was a beautiful morning... the first real glimpse at the city of kobe, and the area around our hotel. we live in a nice residential area between the kobe shinkansen station and kobe jr station. as i walked out onto the streets, the fresh toursit eye quickly notices all the 'exotic-ness' in a typical japanese suburbian street....(will have to add a photo here)

as we walked towards the train station, the street was lined was flowers and greenery on both sides.... after about 10 minutes, we arrived at the station and was quickly attracted by the fresh bread/pastries from the bakery at the train station....

from here.. we decided to take the local train to "Maiko" station and then take a bus to Awaji, where Yumebutai is... follow the following website:

http://www.yumebutai.org/english/index.html
http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/awaji/index.htm

"maiko" was an interesting station... you'll recognize it by the huge bridge that connects this town with the island Awaji.... and the train station is just under the bridge... to get the bus to the island... you have to first get to the top of the bridge, where the bus station is...

there are signs to direct the way, but in japanese.... anyways... its not too hard to find your way around... some very helpful japanese ppl tried to show us the way... they just pointed to us the long escalator up to the top of the bridge... and.. at the top.. we found our bus...

i was getting so excited already... i knew we were almost there... the buses "although service entirely in japanese" they have an electronic notification system to tell u what station is coming up next... plus.. the bus stops right into the "Yumebutai" complex.... yay!!!!

here's the first glimpse, as you walk past the front entrance of westin hotel and down the path on the side... voila!
this huge pool of water makes it soooooooo tranquil... the bottom/bed of the pool is patterned with shells lined neatly ...
a little walking path and sitting bench in the middle of the pool... behind me... the fountains come on periodically... its very relaxing to sit there... i couldn't resist doing a few sketches there...

the entire complex took us the whole morning to stroll through... here are some of the photos taken:
a sundial on the wall... very accurate... amazing!
its hung inside an "oval" enclosure/space... behind the walls of this oval are restaurants and shops for the complex...
here's a view of the planters the called "hundred flowers garden"... each planter holds a different type of plant from all around the world... i think in a another month or two... this view would contain a lot more colour..

to get to the planters garden... because its up on a steep hill... there is an elevator you can take... the other route is to climb up the planters from the lowest one to the top (this is the route we took.. although more work... the rewarded view was better experienced...
here's a view near the top... the planters are all lined up neatly.. i love the tidy lines
here's the tower from below/climbing up to the top
a view of the fountain at the bottom of the hill... (the entire complex was built by removing part of the mountain, in order to clear an area for the structure)... a lot of engineering work was done to retain the mountain... even the planters garden you see above has this dual purpose...
above the fountain above, before the planters garden is this bell tower... (on the right of this photo, is the fountain... on the left is the planters garden)...
a typical tadao ando "tatami" concrete grid wall...... i love it!
this photo shows the criss-crossing of two piece of wall, another feature of "Ando"... it is where i took the photo above...
the amphitheatre furthest east on the site...


the entire complex is connect by water/pools all with the same 'shell' detail...
again u see it here.... this area is similar to the 'oval'.. but this time a 'circle'.. with a ramp that carries you from the bottom all the way around the 'circle' to the top...

we did not plan for there to be food here... to our surprise... this place is very enjoyable to visit anytime... its like a public park... i absolutely recommend this place!!!... we could not resist having lunch at one of the eateries... here's our meal:


yummy!!!!... nothing is ever complete without good food!!!

after lunch... we made our way back into the city of kobe... (see part 1)

Japan 2009 ~ Part 1 - Kobe

Day 1 of my escape from T.O.: 

Arrived in Narita Airport, Tokyo... it was 3:00 pm... very tired already... the japanese health officials came on board... (H1N1 influenza check).. checked all of us.. made us fill forms.. and then after an hour of that and long lines at customs... i finally made it out of the airport and into the JR office to get my railpass... they reserved seats for me on the 5:00pm narita express train to Tokyo... than at Shinagawa, change Shinkansen to Kobe... arrive in Kobe 10 ish...

it was indeed a very long long trip... about 24 hours.. from Toronto to Kobe.. .. but after 4 hours on the train.. and a good "beef" bento box... a long nap... i made it to kobe!!!... and nothing better than seeing keith at the train station.. and we headed back to our hotel...

Green Hill Hotel Kobe > 5 min from Kobe Shinkansen station and 10 min walk from the main Kobe JR station....the hotel was nice.. everything you expect from a japanese hotel... SMALL!!!  but it was manageable, it was all we really needed... it has a small shower/tub.. i wonder why they don't make those in NA?.. and guesses? (my guess has to do with eating habits/big macs/pop).. anyways... the small size was just right, although it did take getting used to... in a smaller space.. you have to learn to maneuver around it and re-adapt (reminds me of my thesis...) and after a much needed shower.. it was bedtime!

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Day 2: KOBE!!! 

due to jet lag...i woke up that early at 4 am... but we didn't head out till around 8 am....the plan this morning was to head west to visit Yumebutai at Awaji... but this blog.. i decided to post the Kobe details first... (Yumebutai photos will be uploaded next!)... first... see below the photos from that afternoon in Kobe. We spent most of the time near the harbourfront... the area revitalised after the Earthquake!

here is the ferris wheel in front of the mosaic center in the harbourfront...
it was such a beautiful day... here's a view of the kobe harbour... the kobe tower
and.. here's me testing out my new hat!
group photo time!
a view from beneath the tower... its wasn't that impressive.. we didn't decide to go up...
some other structures in the harbour...

the harbour area is a nice area to spend an afternoon... it has memorial gardens.. parks.. sculptures... boat cruises... shopping area... we just walked around and sat down in a steps area to take a break... we saw a "jumping" fish... not sure what to make of it... there were lots of locals sitting around also... i enjoyed it a lot...

i'm amazed at Japanese and their re-build efforts after the earthquake... the city of kobe today shows no signs of the devastation after the disaster... except for the memorial areas preserved in memory of the disaster... they city now seems so peaceful... quiet... very enjoyable...

from the harbour, walking back into the city... we past by what is probably a "chinatown"


this is the train station where we transferred to Awaji for Yumebutai!... it was our first day... so we were taking photos of all interesting things... this station name was interesting..(by that i mean the chinese characters.. i dun really know what it means in jap.)
here is a ghibli character store... selling lots of totoro stuff!!! so cute... this photo is for my sis...
the medium sized girl doll standing in front on the shelf.. is the exact one i bought for my sis...

here is a few more photos of the tower:



this tower reminds me of some tower architectural competition entry... i wonder who ripped the design from who?!.. haha

that night... first "real" dinner in japan... we had KOBE BEEF!!! (not a bad start... )
but.. it took us a long time to find the restaurant... although we had an address... looking for a place in japan isn't easy... because although they have streets... addresses dun neccessarily refer to the streets.. they more likely refer to a district/area... very confusing... after 2 weeks in japan.. i dun think we've figured how their system works yet... oh well..
here's some pics of our dinner:
the chef cooking our garlic slices... there were soooooo good.. he cooked each one individually.. and flipped each slice one by one... they ended up being so crispy.. and tasty... i ate all of them... yummy!!!.. and while watching him cook the garlic... we ate the appetizer!

here's our beef.. b4 it was cooked... um...... tasty...
haha.. the chef took this photo...
chef cooking the steak... they prepare each piece by piece.. and cut it all up for u.. so u only have to put it in your mouth.. and let it melt AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!