The Museum of the Little Prince in Hakone

My blogger friend Ashley and I decided to check out The Museum of the Little Prince in Hakone.   I admittedly had never read the famous book by Saint-Exupery but I still really enjoyed my visit.  Hakone is famous for its scenery and this museum is located among the mountains.  What I liked the most is that the museum experience is not limited to an indoor exhibition.  The grounds were made to look like it's in France.  There are many gardens too but because we went during the winter, nothing was in bloom.  I think it would be better to visit in the spring or summer for that reason.

The indoor exhibition was also really informative.  Everything was written in Japanese, but there were books with translations and corresponding numbers that you could pick up and carry with you throughout the exhibit.

We got a little booklet with our admission that had little images to place stamps from various locations within the museum.  So cute!

Ashley!

The restaurant was also super cute.  It was themed but in a less obvious and in your face kind of way.  The food was really good too.  I recommend trying the restaurant during your visit.  Here is a link to Ashley's post about the restaurant!

Overall, I recommend visiting this museum if you have a chance.  It's a little out of the way from the main tourist attractions in Japan, but if you plan to spend time in Hakone and are a fan of this book, I think the trip here is worth it.

☆ Access ☆

The bus fare to this museum from Hakone-Yumoto Station is a bit expensive (~900 JPY) but there is no other way to access the museum without a car.  Check out the official website here.

Daiyuzan Saijo-ji // 大雄山最乗寺

Maybe some people don't know this, but I don't live in Tokyo.  I actually live in a city called Odawara which is 2 hours south of Tokyo.  Two weeks ago, I was on my own and most of my friends were busy so I decided to have an adventure day by myself.  I realized there were many places near me that I had yet to visit so I chose to explore one.  I chose Daiyuzan Saijo-ji, the 3rd most important Buddhist temple in Japan!

２週ぐらいの時に友達は忙しいでしただから私は一人ででした。たぶんこれを知らない人あります。。。私は東京に住んでいません！本当に小田原に住んでいますよ！たくさん小田原のちかい場所に行ったことありませんを気付きました。それでこの場所に行きました。場所は南足柄で大雄山最乗寺です。大雄山最乗寺は禅宗の寺です。

To get to Daiyuzan Saijo-ji, you must take the local Daiyuzan Line from Odawara Station to Daiyuzan Station, which is the last stop.  Then you can walk or take a bus.  I heard the walk is very nice, but I took a bus because I was alone and didn't want to get lost.

もし大雄山線を乗ってなら大雄山最乗寺に行きたいです。終点大雄山駅に行って。あとで、歩いてかバス乗って。私はバスを乗りましただから一人でと迷子に成りたくないでした。

This temple is really beautiful- especially during the fall! I loved the nature here too, especially the waterfall. I took this little Vine that might give you a better idea of how it is in real life!

この寺は美しいです。秋にも美しいと思います。も滝が大好きです。このVineは本当の感じです。

I read about this temple before I went, but for such a beautiful place, there isn't much English information on it available.  This was the most informative post I found.  I recommend reading it if you would like to know more history behind the temple- it's really interesting!  There also was not any English information available on site.  I had a lot of questions about things that I couldn't figure out the answers to.

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There is a legend that if a pregnant woman can pass under the geta, she will have an easy delivery.

I highly recommend visiting this temple.  I think it might be one of my favorite places in Japan now.  It's a little off the beaten path but I think that makes it a truly unique place to visit.  Definitely try to go in the late fall so you can experience the different colors of the leaves.  I don't recommend this place if you aren't physically capable of walking because there are many stairs.

この寺は私のおすすめ！たぶん私の日本に一番好きな場所と思います。ちょっと遠いでも本当に素晴らしい場所ですよ！紅葉を見えるだから秋で行くのほうがいいです。もし歩きにくいなら行きませんのほうがいいです。たくさん階段がありますから。

I want to thank Stasia for sending me corrections to the last post I made in Japanese. She is a really inspirational person and I love reading her blog.  Please check it out here at http://shichijyuuni.com/!
I think that I improved a bit from the last time I blogged in Japanese but I'm sure there are some errors in there.  If you find anything, feel free to email me at carlycarbonate(@)gmail.com.

Matsuri Season

Summer in Japan means lots and lots of festivals (matsuri)!  Japanese festivals are so much fun.  I went to the big one in my city a few months ago but there was another one at the local castle.  It was the same day that I got back from Gunma and although I was exhausted from traveling that weekend, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend a few hours at a festival.

One of the big events at a festival is the carrying of the mikoshi (神輿) shrines.  This Shinto tradition involves carrying portable shrines (mikoshi) which are said to be the home of a spirit.  The people carrying the shrines are often chanting or singing.  I love the way the mikoshi look.  Some of them are rather extravagant.  At this festival, a lantern festival, there were mikoshi that looked like giant paper lanterns.  Maybe they weren't really mikoshi and were just built in the style of one... I'm not sure.  A man I stood near tried to explain it to me and he made it seem like those were just for fun for this particular festival.

At this festival, I actually saw some foreigners help carry one of the shrines.  I don't see many foreigners where I live besides the people I already know so it was surprising to see that.  Usually they're carried by people of a variety of ages.  Sometimes young kids tag along and walk next to the shrines and chant along with whoever is carrying them.

As I read on the ever trustworthy Wikipedia, my city, Odawara, has a unique way of carrying the mikoshi.  "This is a peculiar way of shouldering in which multiple mikoshis meet and run (Holy Dash). The shout is 'oisah;korasah/koryasah.' and there is a song called a 'Kiyari | 'log-carriers(fisherman's) chant' The bearers do not sway the mikoshi. In this 'united' style, the mikoshi uses the full width of the road, moving from side to side and turning corners at full speed."  I can't say how it specifically differs from everywhere else in Japan because I haven't seen it done outside of my city.

I took some video clips of it this time and compiled them into the video below so you can see what it's like.  I chose not to edit out the part near the end where the group is standing around chanting slowly and getting set up because I think it's interesting to watch what they do before they actually move the shrine.

By the way, if you haven't already subscribed to my Youtube account, you totally should because I plan to use it a lot more!

I arrived when the mikoshi parade had started so I decided to head to the main festival area afterward.

All the food stands and vendors were in the park area around the castle.  Some popular festival foods include yakisoba and kakigori (shaved ice) but there are an endless amount of things to choose from.  I actually got a kakigori that was shaved ice and frozen strawberries with condensed milk topping.  It was so good but I didn't get a nice photo of it.

I walked around some more and found this man who was making candy shaped like various animals.  He was very nice and spoke English pretty well too.  He told me that he works for the company Moog that makes synthesizers but does this candy making as a hobby and that only a few people in all of Japan know how to do this!

He was so nice that he made me a rose-shaped candy for free!  He just decided to make that one without asking me but Rose is actually my middle name so that was kind of cute.  I tried to be careful with it but one of the leaves actually broke a little bit so that was sad.  I hope I can see him again at another local festival.  Maybe I'll ask him to make me a dolphin next time.

The castle area looked so pretty at night, especially with all the lanterns.  It's hard to photograph that kind of thing but I tried anyway.

I hope that I can go to another festival before the summer is over.  I think there are some festivals year round but it seems that they're more popular as a summer activity.  I want to see the Snow Festival in Sapporo but it's so far from me so I don't think it will happen for me this year.

Have you ever been to a Japanese festival?  Are there any you've heard about that you would like to go to?