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Hatsu-mode
January 2006
Narita, Japan
Revered as one of the most visited temples, Naritasan Shinsho-ji Temple is visited
by an incredible amount of people wishing for health and peace in the New Year. Trains
in Tokyo and Narita run all night on New Year's Eve and all day on New Year's Day
bringing people coming to celebrate Hatsu-mode all during the month of January.
Click here for more information.
Past Perfect
By Kristin Johannsen
From Voyageur, Carlson Hospitality Worldwide's in-room guest magazine
Step back into the days of the imperial shoguns with a shore excursion to Tokyo’s oldest neighborhood, Asakusa.
It startles me to think that racing, restless Tokyo was born from peaceful water.
Literally. Fourteen centuries ago, legend has it, a pair of brothers were fishing
in the Sumida River , just upstream of today's harbor, when their nets hauled up
a shining golden statue: the Buddhist deity Kannon. A temple was built to enthrone
the image, and around it would grow the shogunate capital, called Edo —the name means “river
mouth.” After the fall of the last shogun in 1868, Edo was renamed Tokyo.
I walk through jostling, low-rise streets toward the Asakusa Kannon temple that
lies at the heart of Tokyo 's oldest neighborhood. These lanes of shops sprang up
centuries back, to serve the pilgrims flocking to the temple. If you need a geisha
wig, toothpaste, Kabuki makeup or a pound of carrots, it's here in one of these stalls.
Lunchtime aromas of seaweed soup and grilling chicken drift through restaurant doorways.
I enter the temple grounds through the towering wooden Thunder Gate, beneath a
huge red lantern weighing nearly a ton. The courtyard bustles. Teenagers shop for
amulets, fortunetellers rattle wooden sticks in brass boxes, worshipers wash their
faces with incense smoke. Inside the hall, a grizzled monk chants blessings over
a little girl in a scarlet kimono and pink sash. I see painted dragons and carved
lotus blossoms but, alas, no golden Kannon—it's so sacred that it's hidden behind
gilded screens and curtains of orange brocade.
Nearby, at Asakusa-jinja, things are quieter. A tabby dozes on an altar, the low
sun warming her fur. Hanging rows of painted prayer tablets clack gently in the breeze.
This Shinto shrine houses the spirits of the two brother fishermen—the perfect gods
to ask for a happy voyage, I decide. I observe a pair of worshipers carefully, and
before ringing the bell that summons the spirits, I follow their example: At the
stone trough, I pick up a bamboo dipper and purify my hands and lips in the sacred
water.
Writer Kristin Johannsen has a dozen pairs of chopsticks in her kitchen in Kentucky.
Pacific Passages
 On September 8, the all-suite, all-balcony, 700-guest m/s Seven Seas Mariner will
cast off from Seward , Alaska , setting a course for Tokyo . The 12-night Pacific
crossing will include stops at Kodiak Island, Dutch Harbor , Petropavlovsk , Hakodate
and Sendai , before reaching Tokyo . Then, on September 20, the ship departs Tokyo
for Hong Kong on a 14-night voyage with stops at Osaka , Hiroshima , Tianjin , Shanghai
and Keelung on Taiwan . The Mariner's return trip from Hong Kong to Tokyo , also
14 nights, begins October 4. Ship amenities include pool and whirlpool, casino, and
four restaurants. Fares start as low as $3,798 for the Seward–Tokyo cruise and $5,936
for the Tokyo–Hong Kong sailings. Radisson Seven Seas Cruises' Web site, www.rssc.com,
has features for cruisers, travel agents and meeting planners.
Carlson Hospitality Worldwide distributes Voyageur free of charge to guests
staying at participating Radisson Hotels & Resorts, Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts,
Country Inns & Suites By Carlson and Park Inn hotels, as well as Radisson Seven
Seas Cruises. If you are interested in an annual subscription, the cost is $20.00.
Checks should be made payable to Pace Communications and mailed to Voyageur ,
1301 Carolina Street , Greensboro , NC 27401 . Be sure to include mailing address
information. |
