Japan now and zen
In Japan, Kate Whiting is charmed by the other-worldness of the country in springtime.
There is something uniquely spiritual and otherworldly about Japan, and it hits you almost the minute you step off the plane – a Zen garden awaits in arrivals at Tokyo's Narita airport. Encased in a glass shell, and so unassuming you would miss it if you hurried past, lies a carpet of carefully raked gravel and delicate foliage, designed to soothe the weary traveller.
Unlike other airports, Narita doesn't feel hectic. There are hundreds of people heading in all directions, but it's a very ordered bustle. And this is also true of Tokyo.
From Shinjuku, the city's skyscraper district, to the trendy shopping streets of Shibuya, you rarely feel harried as you might in London or New York.
With its towering neon signs and hi-tech industries lying side-by-side with rice fields and ancient temples, Japan has long fascinated tourists. Part of its charm is bound up in the Zen Buddhist philosophy of 'Ichi go, ichi e', which means 'One chance, one meeting'.
It's the spirit of the tea ceremony: as we have only fleeting encounters with others as they pass through life, those moments we spend together must be exquisite.
And this is the spirit in which I am welcomed to Japan. My host for the next few days, the soy sauce giant, Kikkoman, is celebrating its 30th anniversary of trading in Europe, with a whistle-stop tour for 30 guests. The trip has been carefully timed to coincide with cherry-blossom season in early April – and from the bus, our guide Akiko gleefully points out the trees that are more than 80 per cent in bloom.
To the Japanese, the cherry blossom, like the seasons, represents the transience of life and should be celebrated as long as it's there. Cherry-blossom viewing is a national pastime and, as soon as the trees are deemed in full bloom, plastic sheeting magically appears under the boughs and picnic parties jostle for the best spots.
Our first taste of Japan is an evening of shabu-shabu at Seryna, a traditional restaurant tucked beneath Tiffany's in Tokyo's chic shopping district, Ginza. Shabu-shabu, which describes the sound that raw beef makes as you waft it through boiling water to cook it, is an event in itself.
Like many Japanese meals, it's very hands-on and requires good chopstick control as you cook a thin slice of beef and then dip it in sesame or soy sauce.
Before dawn the next morning, we head to Tsukiji fish market, arriving just in time to catch the tuna auction. It's a crazy place, but an unmissable sight. Hundreds of mini trucks zoom around a network of some 1,700 tiny stalls, selling slimy snails and sea slugs as well as more appetising seafood. The auction is held in the market's inner sanctum, and only a handful of tourists can watch at any one time. Row upon row of enormous whole frozen tunas will sell for as much as 90
a kilo.
Later, we drive across the city, past the vast landscaped grounds of the Imperial Palace, to Senso-ji – Tokyo's most sacred temple and also known as Asakusa Kannon – with its iconic huge red lantern hung beneath the entrance gate.
In AD 628, so the tale goes, two fishermen fished a small gold statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy, from Tokyo's Sumida river, and the temple was built to enshrine it. Today, a row of shops leads up to the temple, selling tourist knick-knacks. Dinner that evening at the Michelin-starred Sens et Saveurs restaurant, on the 35th floor of Tokyo's Marunouchi Building, gives us a wonderful view over the ancient Imperial Palace grounds by night.
Built in 1590, the white palace, protected by moats and connected to the city by elegant bridges, sits like a crane about to take flight over Tokyo.
The next day we head to the hillside hot-spring resort of Hakone, via the pretty seaside town of Kamakura. Here we gaze at the Daibutsu (Great Buddha), a 13m-high seated bronze statue that has survived tsunamis, fires and earthquakes since it was cast in 1252. En route to Hakone, we're promised views of Mount Fuji, Japan's iconic peak, but no such luck – it's raining.
Hakone sprawls across the collapsed remains of a huge volcano, which has left a legacy of hot springs and steam vents. We take a boat trip across Lake Ashi in a Western-style square-rigger, which looks incongruous against the forested hills.
A cable car takes us up a hill to Owaku-dani (valley of great boiling), where sulphurous steam vents belch out of the ground, filling the air with the smell of rotten eggs. Here, you can try the local speciality – eggs boiled in the bubbling springs until their shells turn black from the minerals.
It's said that each egg will add seven years to your life – I eat two.
Arriving at The Prince Hotel on the lake's edge, we brave the rain to indulge in the onsen (hot spring).
It's a soothing end to a busy day.
The next morning, as if by magic, the sun comes out and we finally glimpse ice-capped Fuji in all its glory. There's time for a photo shoot before we're whisked off to catch the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Japan's cultural capital, Kyoto.
There, a Buddhist monk gives us a guided tour of Kinkakuji – the temple of the golden pavilion – and then we visit Kiyomizudera ('pure water'), a wooden temple perched on stilts overlooking the city with clean springs flowing through its complex. We're here for the cherry blossom, now well in bloom this far south, and the geisha women – another symbol of transience – as they are fleetingly glimpsed heading to teahouses at dusk. At the Kobu Kaburenjo theatre, in Gion, we are treated to a tea ceremony – matcha green tea in a bowl with a sweet bean-paste bun to counter the bitterness.
And then 30 maiko (geisha in training) and geiko (fully-fledged geisha) take to the stage in a flourish of multi-coloured kimonos for the annual Miyako-odori, the dance of the old capital.
The springtime performances are an annual treat for residents and tourists who can't afford the cost of having geisha to entertain them in a restaurant – it's definitely worth seeing.
After several graceful dances depicting the seasons, we file out into Gion's Maruyama Park, where the cherry blossom parties are in full swing. As families gather under the trees, sharing gossip and bottles of sake with strangers, it's clear this is the real Japan.
Go in spring for the cherry blossoms, early summer or autumn to avoid the humid high summer and cold winter.
And don't miss an onsen resort – there are hundreds around the country.
You can't beat a dip in a hot spring, even if you have to go naked.
JAPAN FACTFILE
Kate Whiting was a guest of Kikkoman. For more information on its soy sauce, go to www.kikkoman.co.uk
As an introductory tour to Japan, Inside Japan offers a seven-night 'Price Cruncher' from 600, including three nights in Tokyo, a night with traditional accommodation with hot-spring baths in Hakone National Park, and three nights in Kyoto, on B&B basis (land-only).
Flights, with KLM, from Manchester from 495. Packages can be tailored to any price and time.
Inside Japan Tours reservations: 0870 120 5600 and www.insidejapantours.com
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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