It's always been on my Bucket List (Joanne's) to visit Japan with Friendship Force. When our club did not match with Japan, I wrote all the clubs published in the FFI Website who were assigned there. I received only one reply from Dan Clancy of the Western Colorado Club letting me know that "yes," I could join their group with my friend, Linda Supakoff from our FF of Southwest Florida Club.
Tokyo and Osaka were the clubs matched for late March/April, which was the perfect time to view the famous Cherry Blossoms! Richard chose not to go and I was grateful that my friend, Linda, was ready to join the fun. This is my 21st and 22nd Friendship Force clubs visited throughout the world and my 64th country in the world!
Tokyo
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| Our fabulous hosts, Yukiko and Masao |
For our first week, we were paired with a lovely couple, Yukiko and Masao, who live in Yokohama, just a 20-minute subway ride from Tokyo. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. The Tokyo Airport was a madhouse, with huge lines of people going through checkpoints to get into the country. I waited 1-1/2 hours on so many lines before I made it into the country! Whew!
We arrived with beautiful weather and sunshine greeting us as we stepped through the entrance of our host's home. It must have been in the 70's. Our hosts love gardening and you can see the pots of flowers blooming to greet us.
First on the agenda was a lovely 2-hour drive to Oshino Village, a place famous for its beautiful spring water ponds and views of Mt Fuji. It features traditional Japanese houses including historic homes and architecture. It is a sacred place visited by Mt Fuji worshippers for pilgrimages. Each of the 8 ponds is believed to be home to a dragon god and each pond has various mystical legends.
After touring here, we thoroughly enjoyed bathing in the hot springs, quite an experience for us that involved naked bathing in the "Ladies Only" pools. It was so refreshing and lovely after our long plane ride here.
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| Beautiful Mt Fuji from Oshino Village |
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| Joanne, Linda & Masao with Mt Fuji in the distance |
The next day the Tokyo Club welcomed us all with a magnificent meal in a lovely restaurant. Before that we viewed cherry blossoms in the rain (it had turned a bit colder in the 40's from the high 70's the day before). Another bonus was a trip to the Tokyo Shibuya SCRAMBLE, a "Times Square" type place where we viewed the masses cross the streets in this crowded area.
The way to "get around" is by subway in Japan. It is quite a network of lines that take you all through the city and suburbs. We were given a subway card for the week. It was used constantly to visit the attractions planned by Tokyo Club. By the way, each club charged us only $200 for the entire week! We couldn't believe the low price of feeding, housing and transporting us. The subways were crowded during rush hours and we had the experience of being jammed into the subway cars. People were always polite, even though in close quarters! Pictured below is our group posing in one of the underground subway stations.
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| Twelve ambassadors shown with some of our Japanese hosts: 7 from Western Colorado, 2 from Northern Colorado, 2 from Southwest Florida and 1 from Washington, D.C |
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| Dan Clancy, our JC |
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| Beautiful gardens on cool rainy day touring prior to Welcome Lunch |
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| Weather turned rainy but blossoms still great |
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| City meets garden |
Our amazing host, Yukiko, teaches children to play the piano. She arranged a darling mini concert just for Linda and me! Afterwards, we answered questions the children had for us, thus, the kids could practice speaking English. This was a memorable moment for us. One young boy about age 9 asked me what were some meaningful moments of my life. Quite a question from such a young boy!
Linda and I were asked to prepare a "typical American meal" for our hosts. We had a lot of fun going to the Japanese supermarket to pick out ingredients to to locate food similar to ours in the U.S. We decided to prepare meat loaf, mac and cheese, roasted broccoli and apple crisp for dessert. It turned out great! Here's a picture of us posing in front of the table.
Our final days in Tokyo flew by. We played a special drum and were treated to a mini show with dancing and ancient musical instruments. Then, we were off to see the Shunkaen Bonsai Museum and a tour an awesome hotel in the heart of the city. Later that evening, our host played the lyre and Yamaha synthesizer with lots of tunes for us. The next day, we took a bullet train to Osaka for a week in another area of Japan with the Osaka Friendship Force Club.
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| Drum demo |
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| We walked over this bridge back & forth for Good Luck |
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| Lots of beautiful bonsai like this one |
Osaka
We arrived early at the train station to catch a Bullet Train to the beautiful city of Osaka. This city is considered Japan's economic hub and with a population of 2.7 million in the 2020 census, it is the third most populous city in the country.
We were fortunate to be assigned to stay for the first 3 days of our visit in the home of Keiko Saegusa. To get to Keiko's residence we had to ride a cool funicular to one of the levels of a huge complex of buildings that overlooks the city. The views were spectacular. We each were given our own bedroom (Keiko and her daughter gave us their rooms while they slept on a mat in other area of the home). We were delighted to discover they have two cats and love cats as we do. For the last four days, we stayed with Masa and Hatsuko in their lovely home in the city. We shared an upstairs room with two comfortable beds.
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| Us with our Osaka hosts - Masatsuna Iseda, Hatsuko Munehiro and Keiko Saegusa |
Kyoto
Kyoto, founded in the year 794, was once the ancient capital of Japan. The Osaka club showed us the highlights of this amazing area of which several of the landmarks are designated as World Heritage sites. First stop was the Ryoanji Temple where we walked through beautiful pathways in a wooded paradise of blooming cherry blossom and plum trees to a Rock Meditation Garden.
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| Famous sand meditation garden |
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| Along the pathways with Keiko's daughter |
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| Gorgeous temple bell |
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| Our fun guides! Mikako Fujita! |
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| Me with the Golden Temple in the background |
Afterwards, we viewed the Golden Temple and visited amazing To-ji Temple, a 6-story pagoda and saw lots of Buddahs. The weather was warmer now, in the 60's, with sun poking out which made for great touring!
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| Our friend, Elizabeth, displays the unique admission ticket |
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| To-ji Tower was a highlight |
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| Group picture of Japan ambassadors with Japanese hosts and day hosts at To-ji |
Hiroshima
One of the places I wanted to visit was Hiroshima. Since this was not on our itinerary, I asked my host if on one of our "free" days (usually planned with the hosts and ambassadors) if I could take a tour - and if they could help me get to the public transportation that would enable me to meet the tour guide and get home safely. I was thrilled when Keiko told me that she would help me. I purchased my ticket for an English language tour from the US from "Get My Guide" website for a 12-hour tour by bullet train, bus, boat and regular subway from Osaka to Hiroshima.
The tour guide was great and first up after riding the bullet train was a bus ride to the Ground Zero area. I had no idea what to expect and it stunned me that today Hiroshima is such a vibrant place. It is hard to imagine what happened here 80 years ago on August 6, 1945 when the atomic bomb was dropped. As we walked along the beautiful river front, the guide pointed out the metal fence surrounding the building where the bomb exploded over. I caught a picture with the sun overhead.
We crossed a bridge towards a memorial reflecting pool where a peace flame glows. This flame will remain lit until all nuclear weapons are destroyed. I snapped this picture showing the irony of the gorgeous cherry blossoms framing the Ground Zero building.
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| Peace flame with memorial building |
As we walked by the flame toward the building with the permanent displays chronicling personal stories and scientific explanations of what radiation can do to the human body, we passed the Children's memorial. I rang a bell with a peace crane.
There was also beautiful embroidery art work calling for peace in the world. - all very touching.
I then toured the building. What an experience that emotionally moved me like none other! I thought about what my American history book told me - that we had to drop the A Bomb to end WWII. Is that really true or a justification of violence? I came away thinking that nuclear weapons must be banned from the face of the earth.
Miyajima Island
Next up on the tour was a boat ride to Miyajama Island, home of Itsukushima Shrine, another World Heritage Site. The bright RED gate called Otori is a sister site to Mount St Michele in France. The island is lovely with friendly wild deer that greet you, signature maple leaf cookies, shops and yummy coffee ice cream cones. I met a friendly young Polish couple that lent me their phone charger when I ran out of power. Lunch was included, a pancake made of pork, noodles, cabbage and other spices called Okonomi. Just delicious! The afternoon was so healing after such an intense morning visiting Hiroshima.
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| As with Mt St Michele, the tide goes back and forth allowing you to walk to the gate |
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| This friendly deer was one of many that win the heart of tourists there |
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| This boat took us there - short passage! |
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| Nice decorative touch! |
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| Loved ancient light pole by beach near temple |
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| I am posing for you in front of Otori Red Gate |
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| Here is famous pancake lunch special with Okonomi Sauce, of course! |
The following day we moved to our next host's home - Masa and Hatsuko in the city of Osaka. After getting settled, we walked to the home of another Friendship Force couple who hosted a fabulous party for us. It began with Mikako teaching us how to make gyoza appetizers. They were filled with lite curry and potato salad mixture; others with pork and vegetables and even another, made with chocolate kit kats! So good!
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| Our hosts, Masa and Hatsuko |
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| Mikako gyoza cooking |
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| Best strawberries in the world! So sweet! |
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| Fabulous piano duet! |
The club entertained us with a "mini concert" of piano solos, jazz type music with drums and guitar while they served us sake, sparkling wine and many courses of their specialties.
Our host, Masa, played flute. He has been taking lessons for the past 5 years. He is 78 years old and very energetic and talented.
What a wonderful evening we had!
The next day the club sponsored a terrific Farewell Party luncheon at the Osaka Castle Hotel that included a wonderful performance of traditional folk music by the Okinawa players, a bazaar and delicious lunch. This was the first of many farewells and we were truly touched by everyone's goodbyes and good wishes.
The next day the club sponsored a terrific Farewell Party luncheon at the Osaka Castle Hotel that included a wonderful performance of traditional folk music by the Okinawa players, a bazaar and delicious lunch. This was the first of many farewells and we were truly touched by everyone's goodbyes and good wishes.
The ambassadors performed two songs for the Japanese - Home Home on the Range (complete with bandanas) and Let There Be Peace of Earth.
That evening we continued our goodbyes by taking our hosts out to dinner at one of their favorite local spots. Linda loved the fried squid dipped in curry salt. It was so much fun and very sad to say goodbye to these wonderful Japanese.
Our last day involved packing, of course, and one last chance for me to be dressed in a kimono! We looked at the Osaka waterfront and took a cab, subway and bus to the Osaka airport for our 16-hour flight home!
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| Rokko View Palace overlooking Osaka City to right of picture - our hosts took us for a ride to the top of extinct volcano |
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| Osaka City awash in cherry blossoms - so beautiful! Linda and I loved this Friendship Force Journey to Tokyo and Osaka. Some fun observations:
This was my 21st and 22nd club visited with Friendship Force. What a great way to travel, making new friends while being shown the sites and living in host homes, trying new food and communicating about many different subjects, our families and our lives. |
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| Tears in my eyes as Yukiko waves goodbye from bullet train window after leaving Tokyo Friendship Force |
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