Nikko trip Oct 2011 - Part 2

Oku-Nikko was a nice splattering of red, yellow, orange and green. Plus the lakes and rivers make the view all the more scenic.

This is the famous Ryuzu-no-taki (竜頭の滝, literally 'dragon head falls'). The rock in the centre is supposed to be the dragon's head, with the water flowing around the head.

Another famous sight in Oku-Nikko is Kegon-no-taki (華厳の滝), which is a very high waterfall. The scenery viewed from the bottom is very beautiful, but when we got there, it was getting foggy and so we did not go down to the bottom. But the view from above and afar is still great!

You can see the mountains of Nikko in its patches of red, orange, yellow and green. The autumn scenery here is just great! Even in the rain. Imagine if it wasn't raining!

There is a small natural history museum near Kegon-no-taki. The kid was trying to put a nut into the nose cavity of a deer's skull...

Mother and son bears!

Nikko trip Oct 2011 - Part 1

We took a trip to Nikko (日光) in October 2011, to see the beautiful autumn leaves. Nikko is famous for its scenery during autumn, and while we arrived during a period of rain, that did not stop us from enjoying the view.

Even from our hotel room, we can see the red maple leaves.

The kids enjoyed themselves, running round as kids do.

We went to Oku-Nikko (奥日光), all the way to Yumoto (湯元). This is the Onsen-ji (温泉寺, literally 'hot spring temple'), which really has a hot spring bath that visitors can enjoy.

Right beside the temple is the source of the hot spring. Yumoto literally means 'source of hot water' in Japanese.

And here are the maple trees, in their yellow and orange and red, lining the streets of Yumoto.

Translating software

I tried to use Google Translate (Japan) to translate some sentences from English to Japanese the other day (as a shortcut so that I can save time from having to do it myself). And I would suggest to everyone out there, if you think that translation software is a replacement for a qualified translator, think again.

"Only with X should you do Y." (English)
was translated into:
"Even if you have X, you can do Y." (Japanese)

In the end, I had to check through everything that was done by the computer, and make changes to ensure that the original meaning was preserved. While it was quite some work, it did help to save time because I didn't have to use a dictionary to search for the correct nouns. That was at least a saving in time. At the end of the day, you still need a man in the loop, unless you are writing simple sentences for school children (and even then, I am not so sure...)

Anjinzuka 安針塚

A few weeks ago, just before summer ended, I took a short hike to Anjinzuka (安針塚), which is where the tombstones of William Adams and his wife are found. The tombstones are located in Tsukayama Park (塚山公園) at the top of a hill in the Hemi (逸見) area of Yokosuka (横須賀), which used to be the fief of William Adams.

It was not easy getting from the station to the top of the hill where the park and tombstones are. From Anjinzuka Station, it is quite a hike up a small trail running up the hill, without good signs telling you where to go. I had to ask for directions along the way. On hindsight, it might have been better to go from Hemi Station.

But at the top of the hill is a great view of Tokyo Bay.

And of course, just outside the fence where the tombstones are found, there is this huge stone plaque that will help you find the stairs leading to the tombstones.

And this is how the tombstones of William Adams and his wife looks like. Actually, nothing special, just two simple stone towers. But it is quite an achievement for a foreigner during the Edo period, considering that the Tokugawa shogunate shut off Japan from the rest of the world during that period.

You can read more about William Adams in "Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan" by Giles Milton.

Also, the character Blackthorne in James Clavell's "Shogun" was based on him as well.

Kyoto Sep 2011

After the trip to Osaka, we went to Kyoto. Our first stop was the famous Kinkakuji (金閣寺). This is a world heritage site. Even on a weekday, there was a big crowd at the shrine. Who can blame them? The beautiful golden building of the shrine is perfectly complemented by the serene garden and pond.

Next stop was Sanjusangendo (三十三間堂). We had the honour of having one of the monks there talk to us about the history of the temple, as well as the 1000 statues of Buddha there. The long corridor is still used for archery competitions today, a yearly event at the temple.

Next stop was the Imperial Palace of Kyoto, known as in 皇居 Japanese. Admission is by appointment only. This was my second visit, but this time I managed to take better pictures.

In Kyoto itself, I managed to spot a maiko hurrying along the streets.

We also visited Kiyomizudera (清水寺), a temple famous for the stage built overhanging a cliff. We were early, so there were few visitors. We even had an unusual visitor at the temple, a grey heron.

And here are some ducks at Kamogawa (鴨川, literally Duck River).

Osaka trip Sep 2011

I took a trip to Osaka in mid-Sep 2011. No trip to Osaka is complete without a visit to Osaka Castle, and it was one of the first stops.

Within the confines of Osaka Castle, there was a shrine dedicated to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who built the original castle. The shrine is known as Hokoku Shrine (豊国神社 in Japanese).

We also visited a museum on the history of Osaka's development. There were lots of exhibits, such as the weights and coins used in the past, buttons made from actual shells and an old sewing machine.

We also visited a museum on ethnology, which showcased various cultures in the world, according to regions. This was my second visit there, so it wasn't as interesting to me as it was for my colleagues who were with me on this trip.

We also took a trip to Tezuka Osamu Museum, which is dedicated to Tezuka Osamu, a famous cartoon artist in Japan. He can be said to be the father of Japanese anime. He was the inventor of Astro Boy, and his works can fill shelves. Plus he was very good at drawing... his drawings of beetles looked like photographs.

On the way to and fro Tezuka Osamu Museum, we passed by the Takarazuka Theatre.

Takarazuka is a famous dance opera troupe in Japan, and we saw many fans waiting at the side entrance hoping to catch a glance of the stars as they come in.

Ino Tadataka Museum

I had a chance to visit the Ino Tadataka Museum in Sawara (佐原) of Katori city (香取) of Chiba prefecture some time back. Ino Tadataka (伊能忠敬) was a famous cartographer that lived during the Edo period. He was the first person to draw up an accurate map of Japan, and his maps were still in use well into the 20th century.

If you compare his maps with a satellite picture, you will see that he actually was very accurate for latitude (given his primitive equipment), but he was a bit off in some areas for longitude. The problem of accurate longitude has been a navigation problem in the past, so you cannot blame him. Even so, he was quite close, and I think that if proper corrections are applied, his maps can still be used today for navigation (on land, that is).

National Museum of Japanese History

Some time back, I visited the National Museum of Japanese History (国立歴史民俗博物館) in Sakura (佐倉) city of Chiba prefecture.

It is a very big museum, dealing with the history of Japan from primitive times till modern days. It starts with a gallery on ancient Japan, from Jomon to Yayoi to the Nara period. Then the medieval times from Kamakura till Warring States period. There was a gallery on Edo period, and that was followed by modern Japan starting from the Meiji Restoration till today.

It was very big, so big that it took quite a while to go through the galleries, and even then, I was doing so at breakneck speed. To fully appreciate the museum, you will probably need to spend 5 hours here, 1 hour for each of the 5 galleries. So if you are planning a trip there, it is going to be a full-day affair. But it will be very worth it, since you will be able to learn all the important parts of Japanese history with this one visit.

The importance of being right in translation

From my own personal experience, I can say that translating/interpreting from one language to another is very difficult, since a word may have different meanings when translated into another language and vice versa. And that is why it is very important that the translator/interpreter knows the two languages well, and the context that he is translating. When acting as a middleman between two parties who don't understand each other's language, the translator is of utmost importance, because the mutual understanding that comes out of any discussion hinges on the accuracy of his translation.

Recently, I had a personal experience with how a wrong impression can be left by inaccurate translation. In a question and answer session, because the translator translated the question wrongly, the answer given did not end up answering the original question. The impression left was that the answerer was avoiding the question. Instead of improving mutual understanding (which was the aim of the session), it ended up creating misunderstanding, all because the translator did not translate the question accurately.

Hokkaido trip Sep 2011

In early Sep 2011, we took a trip to Hokkaido (and a town in Misawa, but didn't do much there). We visited the northernmost part of Hokkaido (and thus the northernmost tip of Japan). It was Wakkanai (稚内), which lies along the Soya Strait (宗谷海峡).

Here, you can find Japan's northernmost sushi shop.

We also visited Nemuro (根室), which is the eastern tip of Hokkaido, from which you can see the islands of the Kuriles disputed by Japan and Russia.

And Nemuro is famous of hanasaki crabs, so of course I bought some to share with the in-laws. My mother-in-law just loves crabs.