Climbing · Life

Returning to the wall

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After the girl Id usually climb with moved to a different town, I seem to have put off climbing for a while. She was recently visiting, and we did of course climb. It had been forever and it seems Ive lost all the muscles related to climbing. It still felt pretty good to be back. So tonight, I decided to head over there again. I met this really nice girl, and once again I was reminded of how lovely climbers usually are. I love when people are so enthusiastic about what they do, and put their heart and soul into it. Im so happy having returned to the wall, and hope to go again sometime soon.

Japan · Tokyo

Tokyo

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Tokyo was incredible, and I sit back with the feeling that I only saw a fraction of what this amazing city has to offer.

The best bits of the holiday was

  • The day in Asakusa, seeing the Sensoji temple and trying a hot bath
  • Shibuya. Spending time in Yoyogi park, seeing the Meiji shrine, dinner and view at Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. The Shibuya crossing and the Hachiko statue was also fun to see. (we did see the Hachiko movie in Japan).
  • TeamLab Boarderless was truely amazing
  • Mori Art Museum – outstanding art.
  • Robot restaurant. No need to eat, but seeing the show was truly a crazy experience

The good bits:

  • Seeing the owls of Ikebukuro was great, although unsure if I would recommend it. We also saw a shrine there. It had the second largest ginko tree of Japan, but wasnt so interesting otherwise.
  • The sky tree. Amazing view, but far too touristy. And I think the view from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building was already pretty good.
  • Ginza. Its fun to see the highend stuff. It just didnt seem so unique for Tokyo. I might be wrong. Perhaps we didnt spend enough time there.
  • Edo and Hibiya park. Ok, nothing too impressive.
  • Harajuko. I quite liked this area, but I wasnt quite so impressed as I had expected to be.
  • Cooking japanese recipes at home.

Nearby bits:

  • Kamakura. I highly recommend seeing the shrines and walking around. We had such an amazing day, and some of these shrines were so unique.
  • Tsukuba Space Centre. I have been to the one in the US, but I think this one is far better. Lots of fun, even for kids.
Life · Yoga

Fallen angel

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This Saturday was the last Saturday teaching yoga for a while. So from this week I’ll only be teaching Wednesdays as usual. One of the peak poses were the fallen angel pose. We had tried the same the previous week, and I was happy to see improvements in just a week. As always applauding the ones who try all the weird poses I teach. Good job 👏🏻

Japan · Tsukuba

Tsukuba – science and owl city

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Tsukuba is very much a science city, with Tsukuba Science City being a center for research and education. What sets Tsukuba apart from other town developments in Japan is the large scale and fast pace of its development into a place with high quality of scientific innovation.

Tsukuba is also the home of the JAXA Tsukuba space center, which we enjoyed a lot.

The owl (fukuro) is the official bird mascot of the city. You’ll find several owl sculptures placed in the Tsukuba central park (Chuo Koen), se below. It’s a bit similar to the owls which can be seen decorating the Ikebukuro station. (with the word play ike-fukuro).

Owls are often used as a lucky charm. The reason for this can be found in the Japanese name for OWL – FUKURO （フクロウ or 梟) – which can also be written with different KANJI CHARACTERS that give it a LUCKY significance. FUKURO can be written as 福来郎 （福: fuku, LUCK; 来: kuru, comes; 郎: ro, suffix for a boy’s name), meaning LUCK COMES, or as 不苦労　(不: fu, no; 苦労: kurou, hardship), meaning NO HARDSHIP OR SUFFERING.

This type of word play which can make the names of objects either auspicious, or inauspicious is called GORO AWASE (語呂合わせ), and in this way, owls have come to be one of the more popular motifs for ENGI MONO, or lucky charms.

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Japan · Kamakura

Zeniarai Benten Shrine

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Zeniarai Benten Shrine in Kamakura is unique as people come here to wash their money. Zeniarai means coin washing. It is said that money washed in the shrines spring, will double in value.

The founder of the Kamakura government, Minamoto Yoritomo, ordered the construction of the shrine after a god appeared in a dream and recommended him to build the shrine in order to bring peace to the country. As the dream occurred on the day of the snake in the month of the snake in the year of the snake, the shrine was later also dedicated to Benten, a buddhist goddess associated with snakes.

The Zeniarai Benten Shrine in a surviving example of the fusion between buddhism and shinto. Many of the other shrines were stripped of buddhist connections when the Meiji government attempted to emancipate and separate shinto from buddhism.

The entrance is through a tunnel, as seen below. The fun bit of this shrine is definitely trying to wash your money. And the various money laundry jokes you can make about it.

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Life · Yoga

Yoga on a Saturday

lilliantravellingLeave a comment

Having the best time teaching today 😃 I love when you are enjoying the class just as much I as do 🧘🏻‍♀️ I love when you are laughing throughout the class. Life is not meant to be taken too seriously, and I love when you embrace your shortcomings and telling me you’ll be back next week to show me how you can do the various poses. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I hope to see you all next week 😘

Life · Yoga

Yoga to cheer you up

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Feeling a bit off today after work, slightly feeling as if I wanted to just stay home and do nothing. Luckily I was teaching yoga, which always seems to cheer me up. There is something so great about meeting up with the regulars and share a good class. I love seeing how some of you smile, or should I say put up a big grin, through the challenges I put you through. Got to catch up with a friend who stayed behind after class, which is always something I enjoy. Took a picture for this weeks yogiseeyogido 🧘🏻‍♀️

Home · Life

New paint

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After a long and stressful week at work, it’s particularly lovely working on your home. We removed old paint from the terrace yesterday, and put on new today. The colour is Trebitt nordisk tre, and I think it looks quite ok. It’s always exciting trying a new colour, as it never seem to look like the test plank at the store. We removed the old paint with Trebitt terrassebeisfjerner and the result seem decent. Now just looking forward to pick up new furniture tomorrow 😃

Japan · Kamakura

The Sasuke Inari Shrine

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The Sasuke Inari Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Kamakura and the site of the hidden village of Kamakura. It is located near the Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine. The story tells that the shrine was created by Minamoto no Yoritomo. While in exile in Izu, Yoritomo had a dream where he was visited by an old man from the hidden village of Kamakura. He instructed Yorimoto of the timing to begin battling his enemies. When Yoritomo succeeded and became shōgun, he created this shrine in gratitude. An alternative story tells that it was an Inari Fox messenger appearing in Yoritomos dream.

According to Kamakura Historian Shimizu Ginzō, the hidden village that was adjacent to the shrine was the dwelling of a band of people that were the antecedents to the Ninja. The remoteness and easy defensibility provided the necessary seclusion to conduct their activities which included elimination of enemies of the Kamakura shogunate.

It was crazy seeing all the foxes at this shrine. It definitely makes it a very unique experience.

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