Edit: I guess I wasn't very clear about the Mashiko trip- it was actually LAST weekend. I went on Sunday with a group of people in a Museum Meetup Group I joined at meetup.com. Yes, these were strangers, but LOTS of strangers=safety, especially in Japan. No lectures, please.
It took THREE hours to get there and THREE hours back. This was a long way to go, but it was worth it for the lovely landscape and pottery. We went to two different pottery makers' kilns/studios/shops. The first one is in the earlier pictures, the lady with the OLDEST kiln in Mashiko. We saw a lot of her things, but her pottery was really expensive, so I didn't buy any.
Then we went to the Reference Museum, and saw crazy lots of pottery. We also saw a HUGE kiln that went up the side of a hill. I took some pictures of things inside the museum, though not all of them turned out. It was a lovely museum but the group was FLYING through, so I couldn't enjoy it very much. I think they preferred the shopping aspect to the museum aspect. Anyways, it was very nice.
Afterward, we went shopping at a few places. The last shop we went to also had food, so while we waited for coffee to heat up, we went to the kiln and pottery making place (O.o word choice?) and watched the lady at the shop's husband make some cups and a tea pot. It was very Ghost. I got some pottery at that shop, but it is all for my mom v.v It's hard to carry for THREE hours!!! I did get a few things at other shops tho.
Oh, we also went (earlier, ha) to a restaurant for lunch, which was notably vegetarian. You'd be surprised how hard it is for vegetarians in Japan. There's secretly meat product in EVERYTHING. It's a mystery. Anyway, it was very nice. There was a painting that seemed to say "Oh You Who Come to the Abode of Pain" but everyone else said I was just being morbid, and it said "abode of rain." I'll let you be the judge.
I also have a lot of snapshots on or of the train. The last of the trains was steam engine- NEAT. So, please enjoy, if you have the time. Sorry there are so many >.< (300?!?!)
Here are the links. Again you DO NOT need Facebook to view them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049775&l=f1537&id=32404300
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049777&l=c01dc&id=32404300
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049778&l=19038&id=32404300
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049779&l=30ae3&id=32404300
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049780&l=7d6fa&id=32404300
1 comment:
I looked at all of these pictures, and the whole time, I was struck with a few recurring thoughts:
- Do people visiting the United States photograph everything, take the pictures home, and then, together with their friends, marvel? Everything seems just the way things are here. Nothing's special anymore. It makes you re-consider that.
- Some pictures look just like a street in Seattle. Some pictures look like they were taken in the 17th century.
- I wish YOU were in more of them!
- The foliage is GORGEOUS. I can't imagine what Mashiko looks like in the spring.
- The attention to plants is so clear. It's beautiful.
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