Blessed with excellent Spring weather, Justin's Spring Garden Party went off without a hitch.  With it becoming cloudy in the afternoon, I was a little afraid that we might receive a sprinkle or two but were lucky in the end as the weather held out for my first private party encounter outdoors.  When everything was said and done, 95 people were in attendance to enjoy the sights and atmosphere that only the Garden Oriental Soshuen, which is located in the hills of Mikage in Kobe, could provide!  With the representatives from Kobe Shushinkan (Sake Brewery) joining the festivities, it was truly a perfect night filled with new friendships mixed with pleasant conversation over delicious food and a variety of drinks.

A very special thanks is owed to the Kobe Shushinkan and the Garden Oriental Soshuen.   Please feel free to access their websites below.

The Garden Oriental Soshuen

Kobe Shushinkan (Sake Brewery) 

For a change, I was very active this past weekend by visiting Kyoto on Saturday and then Nara on Sunday.  To kickoff my weekend of traveling, I started by meeting a friend of mine in Kyoto at noon on Saturday.  For our first destination, we walked about 15 minutes to arrive at Ryozen Kwannon, which encompasses a 80 foot Buddha statue as a tribute to unknown soldiers from World War II.   Following our visit to the "Big Buddha", we walked about 2-3 minutes to get to Entokuin, which used to be the residence of the wife of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the person who is recognized as unifying Japan around 430 years ago.  After relaxing inside the Entokuin for some time, my friend and I walked about another 15 minutes to get to the oldest zen temple, Kenninji.  With a beautiful Japanese rock garden in addition to the extremely large painting of two dragons present on the ceiling inside the temple, I was able to fully enjoy my day trip to Kyoto by visiting three different places that I have never been to before nor have ever even heard of.  For more information on some of the places that I visited in Kyoto please refer to the following URLs.

Ryozen Kwannon

Entokuin

Hideyoshi Toyotomi

Kenninji


As for Nara, it was quite a long day on Sunday as I got up and was on the limited express train bound for Yoshino in Nara Prefecture by 8:10 a.m. with a group of friends.  After arriving in Yoshino around 9:30 a.m., we quickly took a bus roughly 15 minutes up the mountain to get to another bus that would eventually take us even higher up the mountain to our final destination.  The problem that we encountered was that due to not enough buses running the second leg up the mountain, we had to wait around one hour to finally get on the bus.  After reaching our destination or shall I say the farthest point up the mountain that the bus would take us, we hiked up the mountain for about another 30 minutes to reach our picnic area spot for the afternoon to take in the sites of the surrounding environment.  When all was said and done, we arrived at our picnic area around 11:30 a.m. and were exhausted.  After relaxing for almost three hours, we returned back to the bus so that we could begin the long journey home.  To not bore you with details, I will just say that I was able to arrive back in my house in Osaka by 6:30 p.m., which was roughly 4 hours from the time that we left the picnic area in Yoshino.  To conclude my story, Yoshino is far or shall I say that once you get to Yoshino station, your journey is just beginning!

Yoshino, Nara


先週末は久々に京都へ行って観光してきました。やっぱり京都はいいね〜駅で降りたとたん落ち着きます。今回は今まで行っていない観光スポットへ行けてなかなか面白かった。また近いうちに新しいスポットへ行きたいなぁ。

霊山観音
http://www.ryozen-kwannon.jp/

圓徳院
http://www.kodaiji.com/entoku-in/index.shtml

建仁寺
http://www.kenninji.jp/index.php


折角の週末やから京都へ行った次の日は奈良県にある吉野（桜の名所）へも行ってきました。お花見できるスポットが吉野駅からちょっと（かなり）離れているから、朝早く特急電車に乗って、吉野へGo!やっと名所に着いたら一つの大事なことが気づいた。7割ぐらいの桜が散ってしまっていること！憧れの吉野やからかなり期待していたけど、もう桜が殆どなくてがっかりした。


吉野
http://www.town.yoshino.nara.jp/kanko/index.htm