Day29 Visit to Ushiku, Ibaraki Japan
by Donna Charles on Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 8:54pm
Teresa's sensei is working on making arrangements for us to spend 2 days in Kyoto and 2 days in Hiroshima!! We are anxious for them to get here so we can find out if this is going to happen or not maybe too late to make arrangements. This timing is hard to find places to stay due to peak cherry blossom timing. They arrive on time and we are on our way to an unknown destination. Teresa tells us that her sensei will call if she has any questions about making the arrangements for us. As we start to travel down the road Teresa shares a book with us about where we are going today. We are going to Ushiku which is in Ibaraki about 2 hours away. On our way the sensei calls Teresa and has a few questions Teresa gives the phone to Marlon and he gives her the answers. Sounds like the sensei has found us places to stay in both locations. :-)
Almost at our destination and before we even get there we can see the Amida Buddha from a mile away. OMG it is very big ~tall. The Amida Buddha is in the Guineas World Book of Records for being the tallest bronze statue in the world. The Buddha is 120 meters tall.......... When we arrive the entrance is through a archway and a long sidewalk with nice scenery around to look at. Heading towards the Amida Buddha we are on our way to go up inside the Buddha which the distance we can go is the 5th floor at 85 meters high. The first floor contains The world of infinite light and life. The floor will be filled with reliefs of silence and mystery. ? We will see what that means? Second floor at 10 meters high is where you can copy the sutra with your heart for Amitabha Buddha if U believe in this. 3rd Floor at 30 meters is the golden world that has 3,300 images of Buddha. 4th floor/5th floors at 85 meters is the room of Mt. Grdhrakuta which is the name of the Indian Place remembered in connection with Buddha. There are windows at every four directions to view from.
Once we arrive at the back side of the Buddha there is a box with plastic bags in it asking you to remove your shoes before going into the Buddha. We do as instructed and go into the Buddha where a lady meets us of course with her shoes off also. The doors close and music starts playing and then the lights go off and its pitch black in this place sorta eery if you ask me. No one said anything complete silence minutes later the doors open to go into the Buddha. I am feeling kinda freaked out by this especially since i couldn't understand what she had said to us before all the doors closed up. YIKES..... Well the doors are open and a spot light is on a gold Buddha and Buddha's are lined along both sides of the walls. We all walk in and look around the room and then enter a hallway that reminds me something from a star trek movie. Colored lights are shining making the path dimly lit to get to the elevator we are hoping. Finally the elevator is in sight to go to the 2nd floor, there is a lady standing by the elevator waiting for our arrival. : -0 Heading up to the 3rd floor now.
We are now on the 3rd floor and this place is suppose to represent the pure land. It is the golden world because thats all i can see is gold color everywhere in the room. There are 3,300 Buddha's on the wall inside gold boxes. Stunning sight to see..........People can hold memorial services in this room for the dead. Now on to the 4th and 5th.
There are windows located in all 4 directions to look out. Its amazing I am this high up in the air and for the first time I do not feel fear of heights ? I observed out all the windows at the beauty outside. The flower gardens are starting to bloom and the sun is shining making this a great day to be out sightseeing with friends. ; -D The 4th/5th floors are as high up in the Buddha guests are allowed to go.
We are going back down the elevator now and out on floor one there is an observation deck outside. We all put our shoes on and take a look outside around the place. Again beauty is all around us, this place is just like most of the other places we have been to. They are tucked within a woods off the main drag which makes sightseeing in Japan so fascinating. I am having the time of my life here!!
We are going to Kagami Crystal Glass Company. We are hoping to get a tour of the glass factory which was founded in 1934. This company is Japan's first crystal glass factory. This glass company makes the crystal for the Imperial House, the State Guesthouse and its Japanese annex building. This glass company has such high quality that it is the only glass used in the Japanese embassies and consulates around the world . I am excited to be here and hope i can buy a small piece of this fine crystal. : -)
We look inside the store of the glass company and OMG the crystal is out of my ball park wow. Rick talks to one of the gentlemen who work there and hooks us up with a tour of the factory. GREAT we went out to the car and snacked to curb our appetite so we could go on the tour at 1pm. The gentlemen started out showing us the glass museum which has several pieces of crystal made by the founder of the company Kozo Kagami. The beautiful crystal in this museum is so precious, so beautiful and again I am standing with my mouth open that I have even been honored to be inside this building. The gentleman than proceeds to take us into the factory. The skill these men have is something that they have worked very hard to master. All the glass is fired and blown by people there are no robots doing this process. This to me is what makes this glass so different than any other. During the tour one of the gentlemen working gave Teresa and I a small piece of the glass that had a pretty cord wrapped around it. WOW we both could not believe this happened. We thanked the man many times of his generosity.
The gentleman giving us the tour took us into a special room where there are only 6 machines and 6 glass masters used to sit. Now they are down to 2 because of the economy. There are only 6 masters in Japan and they at one time had the honor of all 6 working there. Anything these masters make are even more money. The art that is placed within the glass in of course all hand done and is a beautiful piece of art. Again what an honor to be in this room the 2 guys were not working Sat when we were there. The tour of now over and we are back in the glass shop where we are looking again to find something we can afford to buy.
I mentioned to the gentleman if they had any cherry blossoms designed glass that I had seen in the area where the masters were working? There was not any on the floor but they did come back with some pieces that the master had finished and signed the boxes that he made them along with the stamp on the bottom of the glass. You can tell this company's glass the art work in the glass is phenomenal. I won't say how much we paid but Teresa and I both got a small glass with cherry blossoms on it and I am as happy as I can be this is just so beautiful. Hope when the kids inherit this they don't put it in a garage sale. LOL
Lunch time and we are headed to our next destination which is an FARM? We have to pay to get in and we are on a mission to find something good to eat. Once we went inside this place where you cook your own food on a grill we all said YES lets eat here. We picked out 3 different meats, sausage links and some veggies to grill. Marlon and I went next door to buy some rolls for our dinner. WE each had our own grill and sat down and put our big bibs on so no grease could spat on us. : -) We look so cute !!!! LOL
Lunch was great, the guys done most of the grilling life is good. I love my hubby so much I thank him so much for making this trip happen for me. He is the first one to ever bring his wife with him I feel so special that he jumped through hoops to make me be the first wife to go with their spouse to Japan. Toured around the place and left to head home been a long day and we still have a 2 hour drive back home. Before we left Teresa bought us a beverage to try sorta tasted like Sprite very good but the odd thing was how it had to be opened and then once opened there was a marble in the bottle of the neck that rolled around. NO the marble would not come out of the opening that you drink from. LOL
Before Rick took us back to our hotel he stopped at Coco's and we ate dinner which was delish love this place great food and dessert. :O LOL Back at hotel and relaxing now ......... had some wine and cheese and crackers to top the night off.
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