Narita Is Not Just an Airport
This is the last of a series of blog posts describing the trip Alex and I took to Japan this past August. The last leg of our trip began on Miyajima, where we boarded the ferry back to Miyajimaguchi. As we were leaving Miyajima the landlady of the pensione told us that all her weekend guests had canceled because a typhoon was about to strike. Being trapped on Miyajima during a typhoon didn’t sound that bad to me — in fact it sounded like an excellent plan — but we regretfully put it aside as something to do on some other occasion.
Photo by Gary Mawyer
We were far from dreading a succession of comfortable train rides starting with the JR local back to Osaka, then the Shinkansen back to Tokyo, and finally the express from Tokyo to Narita. The coffee was excellent, the snacks plentiful, and there would be an entire day to stretch out and relax.
Photo by Gary Mawyer
Photo by Gary Mawyer
The typhoon arrived in a timely fashion as the train approached Osaka. Wind-whipped curtains of water thrashed down with some violence, hiding the landscape in flying mist. The bullet train to Tokyo quickly outran the typhoon but Fuji-san was invisible in the murky weather, as it had been on our trip south days before. Despite its countless representations and the hundreds of views of Fuji reported from historical times to the present, we cannot verify that it actually exists. As far as we know the great volcano that practically symbolizes Japan remains an object of faith. A quick change in Tokyo, however, did give us a chance to meet some sort of entity I couldn’t readily identify.
Photo by Gary Mawyer
We then took the Tokyo-Narita express. The urban scenery, the sheer sprawl of Tokyo, the neighborhoods and enclaves -- the way Tokyo is composed of many other towns, including small towns, even villages -- seemed more obvious and more expressive, yearning for the future.
In planning my trip to Japan, I had expected to find Tokyo daunting. Instead, though I am generally not drawn to large cities, for me Tokyo was love at first sight. Maybe Tokyo is not really a large city at all, but a comprehensive assortment of small ones placed adjacent to each other for mutual convenience. Anyway, Tokyo, I love you.
In planning my trip to Japan, I had expected to find Tokyo daunting. Instead, though I am generally not drawn to large cities, for me Tokyo was love at first sight. Maybe Tokyo is not really a large city at all, but a comprehensive assortment of small ones placed adjacent to each other for mutual convenience. Anyway, Tokyo, I love you.
Photo by Gary Mawyer
On arriving at the airport we took a cab to Narita-san. The core of Narita is a cluster of winding streets around the great Narita-san Shinsho-ji, or Narita Mountain New Victory Temple.
Photo by Gary Mawyer
Photo by Gary Mawyer
The temple was built by the Shingon Buddhist sect to celebrate a new victory in 940 AD. Its glory days began when Tokugawa Ieyasu moved the Shogunal capital to Edo. It was a good spot for attracting the patronage of the political and military great, as well as intellectuals, artists and religious people.
Photo by Gary Mawyer
Photo by Gary Mawyer
Photo by Gary Mawyer
Narita-san is a complex of halls, courtyards and plazas, promenades, walks and gardens laid out on the grand scale. Our tour of shrines and temples, beginning with the Meiji Shrine and the Asakusa Senso-ji temple in Tokyo, then the shogunal temple complex at Nikko, the ancient shrines of the Kumano Kodo, and Miyajima, had somehow not really prepared us for something like Narita-san. Pictures of various parts of Narita-san do little to convey the sense of the whole. It would take days to explore Narita-san. It is full of treasures.
Photo by Gary Mawyer
Photo by Gary Mawyer
We spent one night in Narita, relaxed and comfortable in a most accommodating inn across the street from the temple. We shopped for souvenirs and antiques. Unable to look one more fish in the face, we went looking for a hamburger and amazingly found an American hamburger restaurant. It wasn’t really American but it was meant to be — there were posters of John Wayne and Spiderman and Audrey Hepburn, and the tables were set with metal knives and forks. The hamburgers were really huge succulent oblate meatballs, profoundly flavorful, presented on homemade brioche rolls in a paper sleeve for neatness, and we were the only Americans. On a whim I addressed my hamburger by cutting it into squares and eating it with a fork. Was it my imagination, or was there a certain flavor of “so that’s how it’s done” in the air? The French fries were exquisite. It was another great meal in Japan. I wonder how many travelers go for the temples and stay for the food.
Narita-san is probably too close to the airport to turn up on the tourist radar, but Alex and I agreed that after ten days in Japan it made a perfect place to decompress before leaving. It would also be a great introduction to Japan, an ideal first step, if Narita is your entry point.
Well then, Japan -- Incessantly friendly. Easy to get around in. The new is as fascinating as the old. Memorizing a few tourist phrases in Japanese, a highly accessible and expressive language, goes a long way. By all means wear a Totoro shirt. Do take the time to worship, because it is easy to do and impolite not to. And prepare to be surrounded by beauty, beauty and peace, even when you don’t yet realize it.
I must add, when I got home and unpacked, the first thing the cats did was crawl into my suitcase. They want to go with me the next time.
Photo by Gary Mawyer
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