Memoirs of a Genji

Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan

June 25, 2009

A long long time ago…in a land far far away…there was a lady with powdery-white face, blackened teeth, and brows in the middle of her forehead. She allegedly retreated to a mountain temple and came up with an epic tale “on the night of the full moon.”

That was a thousand years ago – August 1004 to be exact.

The land is now Shiga Prefecture, just an hour away from Kyoto but fairly remote in most travelers’ itinerary.

The lady was Murasaki Shikibu, a courtier who may have looked as the aforementioned description, which was the standard of beauty during the Heian era.

Lady Murasaki in Ishiyama-dera

The story is called The Tale of Genji, generally regarded as the world’s first modern novel.

And the temple is the astonishingly lovely Ishiyama-dera.

The Land of the Setting Sun

Osaka, Japan

June 24, 2009

I’ve just accorded Japan omnipresent status. The Land of the Rising Sun may well be the Land of the Setting Sun as well. Japan bookends the day!

Osaka Castle at Twilight

It was a dramatic sunset. A tinge of atomic tangerine, a swathe of mauve, and splashes of crimson and scarlet set the sky aflame (primary colors fail miserably in describing heavenly hues). The cinematic combination of castles and colors was as dreamy as Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams. Osaka-jo (Osaka Castle) and its shachihoko (a mythical creature with the body of a fish and the head of dragon) architectural accents cast a mystical silhouette against the psychedelic sky.

For the Sake of Sake

Kobe / Osaka, Japan

June 24, 2009

Kissed? Check. Touched? Check. Drunk? Not until I turned 40! I had to go all the way to Osaka to get sloshed. All for the sake of sake!

O, sa-ke! Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum in Kobe

It all began innocently enough in Kobe. My host couldn’t decide what place to show me. So with a little help from my trusty Lonely Planet, I suggested the Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum. Being a culture vulture, I was elated by a museum visit. Plus, admission was free!

The View with a View

Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

June 24, 2009

Part of what made visiting Himeji Castle truly exhilarating – and exhausting – was the fact that the donjon could be scaled up to its top, treating visitors with a panoramic view of Himeji City from its famous castle.

A View to a Hill: Himeji City from Himeji Castle

However, the interior of the castle was rather spartan. No grand halls, opulent quarters, and gleaming artifacts usually associated with such an elegant and imposing facade. Instead, the castle seemed hollow – lots of empty corridors and dark nooks inside. You might think the samurai lords were concerned more with making a strong impression on the outside than they were with their personal lifestyles.

Sadako, Seppuku, and Scary Stories

Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

June 24, 2009

I had been in Japan barely 24 hours, and I already stumbled upon Sadako’s well! I found the horrific well within the complex of Himeji Castle.

Okiku's Well and Sadako in Pink

Well, the well actually looked unremarkable in broad daylight. There was none of the giddy creepiness of its movie version. Stone columns had been erected around the well; it was hardly visible from a short distance.

The Samurai Castle

Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

June 24, 2009

I have seen posh palaces, towering temples, and formidable fortresses. But a castle complex had eluded me – until I got to Himeji, a quaint little city near Kobe. Himeji-jo (jo means castle in Nihongo) was completed in the early 1600s, but it stands as the best-preserved castle in Japan, even emerging unscathed from WW2 bombings.

Unlike its medieval European counterparts, however, the Japanese castle has a delicacy of design that glosses over its structural imperviousness and murderous trappings. Himeji-jo is a vision of elegance in architecture. Its whitewashed walls and layers of gables with upturned eaves were made to look like the cascading plumage of a white egret about to take flight. Thus, it is sometimes called Shirasagijo, or White Egret Castle. The name is spot on because the castle is as lovely as an egret.

Himeji-jo: White Egret Castle

Swine Flu over the Pacific Rim

Osaka, Japan

June 23, 2009

Less than two weeks before my flight to Japan, WHO declared the swine flu, or A(H1N1) flu, outbreak, a pandemic. By then, the virus had circled the Pacific Rim, having started in Mexico on that side of the ocean and now spreading like a viral Susan Boyle video in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cindy and Cebu Pacific

People were dissuading me from travelling. But that swine bug proved no match to the travel bug. So it came to pass that on June 23rd I found myself on a Cebu Pacific flight to Osaka with my travel companion, Cindy.

Serendipitous Serenity

Subic, Zambales, the Philippines

February 15, 2009

I am not a Subic person. I don’t mean the town, but SBF (Subic Bay Freeport Zone), which I find a tad contrived.

The bay area was a Spanish arsenal repository more than a century ago, and more recently, it housed the controversial American naval base. When the Americans left in the early 90s, the area was converted into a commercial and entertainment development zone.

The Lighthouse Marina Resort in Subic

Navy SEALS gave way to Marine World seals doing tricks, barracks to boutique hotels, commissaries to beachfront restaurants and duty-free shopping centers. Throw in the obligatory casinos, yacht club, and water sports facilities – viola - you have a world-class tourist trap.

Road Trip to Rizal

Rizal Province, the Philippines

December 30, 2008

Let the road lead you. That’s the guiding principle of a good road trip.

One lazy December day, Ki (my fellow “road-tripper”) and I did just that. For Manila urbanites, an out-of-the-blue road trip is mostly a toss between going north or going south. Going east is hardly even regarded as an option. (Going west would mean embarking on a boat trip.) But on this day, we headed eastward with no particular destination, no compelling reason other than to follow the road.

Road Trip with Ki