The morning had consisted of light rain and grey clouds but a quick glance from my second floor window revealed a blue sky on its way. It was time to break out of the house and enjoy a nice Sunday afternoon walk. My feet took me to a medium sized park near my place which among things like baseball diamonds, soccer fields and a small recreation center also contained a decent sized castle. Yes, I said a castle. Momoyama castle to be exact. Since it used to be a tourist attraction it is in great condition but apparently somehow lost its status, fame, and necessity to pay for walking around the grounds. In the Fall beautiful orange, red and yellow leaves adorn the trees and in the Spring short lived cherry blossoms make their appearance.
Everywhere you go here, every corner you turn, puts you face to face with something new, interesting and sometimes unexpected. There are innumerable shrines, temples, ruins and other awesome things just lying around that many people here take for granted. They have to go somewhere else to see something ‘interesting’ and usually miss out what’s in their own neighborhood.
Take for example my last apartment. It was a two minute walk from Fushimi-Inari shrine, one of the three most visited places during New Years in Japan and made famous in the West by the movie Memoirs of a Geisha. It covers most of a small mountainside and has trails that can lose you for hours. I can’t count how many times I walked through those dimly lit torii (orange gates) at night just taking in the atmosphere, but I wonder how many other people had even visited the place (other then the 10 or 15 minutes walk to toss their money in the collection bin and ring the bell). Most of the times I was there only a few sparse groups populated the place and once the sun went down so did the number of people. They say that trick loving fox spirits inhabit the woods so perhaps out of concern for their safety people avoid the place. Though, if you wish to remain sane avoid the place during the New Years holidays because as mentioned before, tens of thousands of tourists decend on the place turning it into a living stew of people.
My apartment before that was a few minute walk from the famous (what place in Japan isn’t) Toji Temple, known for having the tallest wooden tower in Japan and its monthly flea market (held in the courtyard on the 21st of each month). I’ve been pretty lucky with where I have lived while in Japan but everyone here has claim to some interesting, famous, or well known thing in their neighboorhod. I just think mine is the coolest.
