Going through the country seem to be a travel through a country of opposite extremes. New and old - modern and old fashion all in the same country. Tranquil country side in some area stands out in stark contrast to the general craziness of Tokyo.
I start out with a huge delicate breakfast at the ryokan I stayed at. Like always it is a feast which is particularly appealing if you like lots of fish as a part of your daily breakfast. Then I head off to get to a famous zen garden at the outskirts of Yamaguchi. I start walking and in the process I realize I might have underestimated the distance - but I have reached the point of no return so I continue down the street. As I walk I pass a smallish green area which apparently is home to the Japanese national self-defense forces which are out doing some sort of training this morning.
I head to the garden which is one of the most famous in Japan.It is located next to a hill side and it is naturally incorporated into the hills surrounding it with a small temple complex in front of the garden.The main feature of the garden is a large display of stone carefully situated in accordance with some tradition I am not fully familiar with. In general I think this garden is a little too much of a traditional Japanese garden obeying too many of the traditional rules of Japanese garden tradition to be really attractive.
The rough uncut stone and the absence of colors in the form of flowers is not all that appealing to my traditional European mind.
But I have made it out here so I try to wonder up the hill and on top of the hills is a small shrine. It is quietly located all alone up here far away from the crowds - not that there actually was a crowd in the garden this morning.
I leave behind Yamaguchi but unfortunately I still need to get down to the new station down at Shin-Yamauchi I get on the local train and finally make it to the big station. I head up and wait for the shinkansen to take me from Shin-Yamaguchi to Hiroshima. A few times I have wonder why an extra set of tracks in the middle of all the smaller shinkansen stations. While I wait for my train I find out what they are doing there. As I am waiting at the side of the tracks a bullet train suddenly arrives - almost out of the blue - hammering past the station doing the normal travelling speed of about 285k per hour. The train is surprisingly quite considering the speed it is travelling by and the distance to the central tracks seems to be sufficient to reduce the wind created by the train to virtually nothing. After a while another train comes hammering by and then finally my train arrives.
