Arrival at Narita

Should you be one of the lucky few faithful readers of this humble blog, you've probably noticed something approaching to obsession regarding Japan. We love the place. So, yes, time to visit again. This time the plan was to explore the northernmost-island of the archipelago, Hokkaido. But before heading up north, we had a day to spend on Honshu.

Rather than visiting Tokyo, we decided to spend the day in Narita, which is the town where the airport is located. Narita is the home of one of the most important temples in Japan, Naritasan Shinshoji Temple.

Our trip to Narita was less than troublefree, as I managed to catch a rather nasty cold just before our trip. Thankfully the doctor prescribed plenty of medicines to kill the germs (they don't go light on the medicines in France...), so I suppose they helped a little bit. Still, my constant coughing prevented both me and Mathilde from sleeping, once we made it to the hotel.

Still, we got up bright and early in the morning, keen to explore Narita. We walked down the main street of Narita towards the temple, and my nasty cough and jet lag was quickly forgotten as the spell of Japan hit us again. The place is just still exotic to us, yet getting to be familiar as well. After an early Ramen lunch, we walked continued strolling down the main street, which interestingly enough was crowded with scouts from various parts of the world!

We ended up in the tourist office, where we visited an interesting exhibition show-casing ceremonial festival carts used during the Matsuri season (Japanese festivals, usually taking place during the summer).

Then, we finally ended up at the temple. Actually, it's not just a temple, more like a complex/ensemble of temples/gardens and other architectural features. One could easily spend a whole day just strolling around, enjoying the peace and quiet.

The temple dates back all the way to around 940, when the temple complex was built around a statue of the Buddhist Fudo Myoo deity. We sort of strolled around randomly, just being happy with the peace and quiet - and with being back in Japan! We even sat down in the main hall for a bit to follow the ongoing religious ceremony. There is also an impressive pagoda, called the Great Pagoda of Peace, which we checked out.

A very nice way to get back into the rhythm of Japan, then. We almost felt regretful to head back to the airport to catch our plane for Sapporo! Anyways, should you ever have some time to spare during a stopover in Tokyo, it's worth considering visiting Narita instead of heading into Tokyo...