SketchTravel in Japan
Yokohama and south
A few years back I flew to Tokyo and met up with my partner (now wife) Michan. She had just finished some contract work there, so we hit the trains. We went to Shizuoka, a Pacific coast city a few hours south of Tokyo. Michan grew up there, and she showed me the sights. I was fascinated by the Toro Site and museum there, re-creations of a 2,000 year old rice settlement. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to these primitive pit-house kind of structures.
all sketches © @mrsomebody
Shizuoka is famous for its exceptionally good green tea, and its strawberries. Once I got my bearings a little, I took a bus out to the Toro site. After sketching there I wandered back through the neighborhoods. It seemed like someone had just come through and tidied everything up for me. I mean there was not even a leaf in the gutters.
200 mph beer
Traveling by train was so fun. Grab a couple bento boxes and Sapporo beers and just kick back as the Shinkansen (bullet train) shoots through the countryside at around 200 miles per hour. We transferred to an older train in Nagoya that took us up beautiful canyons to the old mountain town of Takayama. So many traditional old houses are now shops. They had a cool farmers market. After dark one night we couldn’t find an open restaurant anywhere until Michan saw a hint of a red lantern way down a dark street. There we had some steaming hot ramen in this tiny place with just three sunken tables. Then getting back to our hotel we soaked in the hot springs spa on the hotel top floor, with big snowflakes slowly falling
(separate pools for men and women).
Next day we took a bus to the village of Shirakawa Go, a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of these very steep-pitched, thick roof houses. The upper level floors were open-planked to allow the heat to rise, which kept their silk worms cozy through the cold winters.
A No Sketching sign
It was my desire to visit as many shrines and temples as we could, including the stunning Todai-ji Buddhist Eastern Great Temple in Nara, Japan (Great Buddha Hall). These places are very popular and very crowded, so I didn’t try to sketch there, sorry. I even saw a sign outside at one temple reading No Sketching. What?
Stubborn deer
Our trip took us to Kyoto, Osaka, and down to Hiroshima. There we visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and then took the train and ferryboat out to Miyajiima, where the most famous torii in Japan stands on sand at low tide and floats in the water at high tide. I did do a sketch here of a temple and trees. The island has many deer, who intentionally get in the way of people trying to take photos. We saw one large group of people trying to physically push the deer from their rear out of the way, but the deer were having nothing to do with that, holding out to be fed first. There are lots of tiny shops serving very tasty fresh and cooked oysters. We did visit a few castles too in Himeji and Hikone.
The sketches here don’t really follow a timeline. They are just for fun and when the opportunity arises and there is something that wants to be drawn. I found Japan fun, safe, clean and full of fascinating places very worthy of exploring. I am looking forward to more travels there, hopefully soon. Plus I have a built-in tour guide!
You continue to amaze me. I could seriously sit here and soak in your sketches all day. I get more out of your travel posts because of your original sketches than I ever do out of the most polished/professional "travel bloggers". Your views of the town neighborhoods in particular gave me such an awesome sense of place. I am so happy you are posting here on Steem. Much love - Carl
I really appreciate your comments @carlgnash. I agree with you that the incidental details about a place do give you a sense of things that aren't often in travel books. I am reading up on a trip to Portugal, and am having a hard time visualizing what anything will actually be like beyond blocking out the overall itinerary. Thanks for your kind remarks.
Thanks for using #artzone tag! Artzone can give just one upvote per day!
Hello @mrsomebody! Very nice to open Steemit with a decent internet connection and see that you have a new post on Japan showing on my feed. Very nice sketches, once more!
We are considering Japan as a destination next month. For now, our camera is doing a little tour of Thailand and we have made some great connections already. Thanks for sharing your experiences, ever so inspiring.
(I really hope we have enough money to take the Japanese train that would just be perfect.)
Hi again @astralaglae. Thanks for your comments. It sounds like you are living the dream, traveling around and shooting. Though Japan is quite different than Thailand, I'm sure you would find lots to like. I'm planning to go back to Japan in 2 years if not sooner, and continue exploring there. Happy travels!
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Thanks! @bitgeek That's cool to know.
Hi there! This post had been selected to feature in the next edition of [Travel Japan Weekly Digest]. Congrats! This weekly digest will focus on showcasing the beautiful side of Japan including attractions, destinations, food, unique experience, festivals, cultures, etc. Find out more from this post.
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Hello, yes you are welcome to use whatever you'd like from my post. Will there be a way for your readers to find my original post to read? A link or something? Thank you. @jrvacation
The sketches might have been fun at doing, they still look like a proper japanese temple/traditional house study! Respects.
Thank you @haedre. I created some abstract drawings in japan as well, but chose to post the more recognizable ones here.
Really lovely sets of sketchies, mrsomebody :> You really captured the traditional feels from some of these buildings <3 Very evocative, I feel like home again suddenly <3 Really appreciate that !
Your posts are always so beautiful and full with thoughts that I look forward to every single one of them * ___ *
upvotes
Thank you so much @veryspider. It's always rewarding to sketch on trips.