Nijo Castle and Yasaka Shrine

 

Entrance to the Nijo castle.

February 11, 2026

We went on our first excursion for the Japanese history class yesterday and walked to the Nijo castle. When we were here nine years ago, we toured it during a special evening showing. It was so crowded we couldn't hear the noise the "Nightingale" floors made inside. This time there were not many people visiting and thefloors were noisy! They sound like a chirping bird and were constructed to serve as an early warning system that someone was coming.

The grounds are lovely in the winter.

No photos are allowed inside the castle. It is a significant site because is is the location for both the beginning (in 1603) and the end (in 1867) of the Tokugawa Shogunate. There were beautiful painted screens in the rooms, tatami floors and brightly colored ceilings.

Emily, Mary and I

Mary joined us in Japan and is teaching the Japanese History course. She taught on Pacrim two years ago when she taught a class in Japan and Taiwan.

We had some tempura for dinner. We are staying in an area with lots of small restaurants.

We had lunch today with a former Pacrim director.

David led the group back when it was a full-year program. He took 34 students in 1991-1992. He told us some pretty amazing stories. He was able to take the group to Vietnam. They were the first American college students to go to Vietnam after the Vietnam War. And he had plans to take the group to North Korea. He showed us the paperwork he had saved that approved their visas, but a last minute phone call from the North Korean representatives in the US put a stop to their hopes of traveling there.

After lunch we met the students at the Yasaka Shrine. David gave his explanation of what to look for as we entered the shrine. He also pointed out how syncretic Shintoism and Buddhism is here in Japan. Once again, photos were not allowed to be taken of the shrine. He told us to look for the big rope that holds a bell at the entrance. The shrine is dedicated to a god that protects against plagues and misfortunes. Worshippers would pull on the rope to ring the bell and wake up the god. Ironically, during the Covid pandemic, they stopped people from ringing the bell because of potential contamination!

On the steps before we entered, there was a large group of tourists wearing the rented kimonos that are so popular.

A sign that spring is coming!

After the shrine, we walked to the Nishiki Market and I found the fabric store I visited the last time we were here. 

Since I bought so much fabric in India, I decided to buy materials for a small sashiko project that is easier to pack.

We walked through the food market. Today is a national holiday in Japan. It is National Foundation Day commemorating accession of the first emperor in 660 BCE, so it was a bit crowded.

From One Extreme to Another

 

February 9a , 2026

We landed in Osaka in the late afternoon. It took over two hours to get through immigration due to some improperly filled out paper work by a student. But once we finally all got through, we met up with our local program provider who led us to the train and then the subway to get to the hotel.

A Labubu in the Hong Kong airport.

Labubus were one of the hottest selling toys last Christmas, invented by a Hong Kong artist.

When we flew into Osaka the last two times, we had to take a bus to get to Kyoto. The 80-minute train ride was much quicker, but we missed the nice bento boxes we were served on the bus last time.

Even though we ate a meal in the airport, a meal on each flight and a meal before we left, we were hungry again! It was a 12-hour travel day. So, we walked to a small ramen shop for a quick dinner. We checked into our hotel room, which was impossibly small for two people. It felt like we were in a tent with an RV-sized bathroom. There was space for one suitcase to be opened, if you were in bed. We learned the hotel was full because of a marathon, and we got to move to a larger room in the morning.

At our new country orientation in the morning. If you look out the window you can see it was snowing! The transition between India and Japan could not have been any more drastic. India is loud, colorful, vibrant, diverse while Japan is quiet, monochromatic, subtle and homogenous. And India is warm and Japan is freezing cold!

Despite the cold, it was certainly picturesque.

It is unusual for Kyoto to get snow.

Day in Delhi

Karl and our driver, Manpreet.

February 8, 2026

The students had a free day to rest up and get ready for a red-eye flight to Japan; but Karl really wanted to see a few things in Delhi. Through Goutam, we hired a driver for a few hours in the morning. He had excellent English, and we learned a lot of things about the city and about the Sikh religion from him. He told us there are five things a Sikh must have (both men and women): 1) uncut hair and beard for men (represents accepting God's will.) He told us he never cuts his hair, and he is growing his beard back. 2) He wore a silver bracelet that represents being bound to God. 3) He uses a wooden comb to comb his hair. It symbolizes grooming both the body and the mind. 4) He told us he wears special undergarments. 5) He has a sword but he keeps it at home. It is to remind him to defend truth. So, there were certainly some interesting similarities. 

Entrance to Humayun's tomb.

First we went to Humayun's tomb, mostly because it was close; but we learned that traffic always trumps distance in Delhi. We also wondered how anything could compare with what we saw in Agra, but this was yet another beautiful UNESCO World Heritage site. Humayun's tomb is the first example in India of the blend of Persian and Indian architecture and also the first use of red sandstone. Humayun was the second Mughal emperor who ruled in the mid-15th century. His kingdom stretched from today's Afghanistan and Pakistan through Northern India. He was the grandfather of Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal.

We walked through it quickly because we had more we wanted to see. We missed having a guide who shared information that made it all come alive. You can see how this was the prototype for the Taj.

India is a photographers dream location from the rich architecture to the colorful people and culture.

We had to pay to enter the grounds but it was very empty. The cupolas in the buildings serve as pigeon coops. And the Black Kites were soaring above the park grounds. I could have stayed, but we moved on.

Karl popped out of the taxi to get a picture of Rashtrapati Bhavan, a government building.

India Gate

Then we made a stop at India Gate. It was built as a war memorial by the British between 1921-1931. It was built to memorialize the deaths of 70,000 - 90,000 Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army who died in the First World War and the Anglo-Afghan War. It was modeled on the Arch de Triomphe. 

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

This is a new statue that can been seen through India Gate. It was erected in 2022 by Modi to honor Bose, an Indian Freedom fighter. It replaced a 1972 statue known as Amar jawan Jyoti, which translates as "Immortal Soldier Flame." Undoubtedly, there was politics involved in the decision to replace the memorial. 

Speaking of Modi, notice the flag on the hood of this car. The driver smiled when he saw me taking the picture! Manpreet, our driver, told us that people who put the BJP's (Modi's political party) flag on their cars can do whatever they want. The police will ignore them. If they do something they shouldn't, there are no consequences. Manpreet, who is not a BJP supporter, said he would NEVER put one on his car or his fleet of cars because of whom it represents.

Street food party.

We had a farewell party at the SIT Center. SIT was the organization that helped coordinate our trip. Their cook made us all sorts of delicious street food.. We had samosas, pani puri, and debeli.

Abid was back from a trip to Dharamsala with a group of students. He gave me a beautiful scarf and Karl some tea and Tibetan prayer flags.

We got to meet Goutam's wife.

We celebrated a student's birthday.

They took us to the airport for our 1:30 am flight. Once we got there, we discovered it was delayed until 2:00 am. It was a five-hour flight to Hong Kong, where we had an hour-and-a-half layover. And then we flew on to Osaka. Pacrim is full of adventures, but it is not very restful.

 

Taj Mahal and Agra Fort

 

Taj Mahal at sunrise.

February 6, 2026, Friday

We left our hostel at 6:30 am to walk on the Nature Walk to the Taj Mahal. We could have taken a golf cart, but we all wanted to walk after our long train trip. Agra was India's capital under the Mughals. The Mughals were a Muslim dynasty of Turco-Mongol origin. They reigned during the 16th-19th centuries. The Taj Mahal was built by the fifth Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan, for his third and favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, after she died in childbirth with her fourteenth child. The emperor was devastated at her death and set out to create an unsurpassed monument to her. The building is a mausoleum for her.

The arch gate entrance to the monument.

There are twenty-two marble domes on top of the gate in two rows. Each dome represents a year of construction. It took twenty-two years to construct the building.

View in the misty morning air.

Our guide told us we were very lucky to come on this day because the last eight days had very bad air quality. The morning tours could not see the Taj from a distance! He showed us pictures on his phone. But by the time we were finishing the tour, we had blue skies.

The Taj is built with bilateral symmetry. The grounds follow the same pattern as well. Each part of the Taj  meticulously mirrors the other half. 

Notice the angle of the minarets.

Each of the four minarets angle outward by 2 - 2.5 degrees. This architectural feature will cause the towers to fall away from the building should an earthquake strike, thereby preserving the mausoleum.

We didn't dress up for our photo-op!

It was a brisk morning (47 degrees) and many of our students were dressed in their Indian clothing with a light scarf to keep them warm. They were out for their Instagram moment. We wore several layers with water bottles stuffed in our jacket pockets! Our guide knew all the photo spots. We felt like we had a wedding photographer with us!

Close-up of the lower portion of the main mausoleum.

As the sun came out and we got closer, the building continued to change color. The light constantly changes the color of the walls. It can look pink and change to a brilliant white. At sunset it can have warmer orange tones. The detail work is made from jasper, jade, lapis lazuli, and turquoise. The stones  gleam in the sunlight. We put shoe protectors over our shoes and were allowed to go inside. We could not take pictures, but we saw the marble crypts. The building is actually made of brick but the brick is lined with Makana Indian marble that is very hard and nonporous. 

Entrance to the Agra Fort

We finished our tour and walked back to the hostel for breakfast. We packed up and took the bus to the Agra Fort. We were so wowed by the Taj, we didn't expect a fort to impress us much. We were certainly wrong! The fort is a 16th century, 94-acre sandstone fortress that is still functioning today! We were only allowed to tour 30 percent of it. The Indian army uses a large portion of it still today.

The fort is surrounded by two moats. One held crocodiles and alligators and the other had wild animals in it. The engineering of the fort was remarkable. Our guide showed us all kinds of optical illusions as well as very clever inventions. They used a series of pulleys to draw water from the Yamuna River to fill aqueducts that could then fill fountains and bathtubs. There is one palace called the "summer palace" that had hollow walls. They could pour water into the walls to keep the rooms cool. They even had windows that drafted air to cool rooms. 

Detail work inside a courtyard.

Not only was the architectural design functional, it was aesthetically beautiful as well with elephants and flowers carved into the sandstone.

The fort has views of the Taj Mahal.

There is also a tragic story about Shah Jahan, the emperor who built the Taj Mahal for his wife. Later in his life, he was imprisoned in this fort by his son Aurangzeb during a fight for who was to succeed him. Confined to a tower, he spent his final eight years gazing at the Taj Mahal he built for his wife.

These walls were once inlaid with precious stones and jewels.

The stones and jewels were removed by the "Britishes", as our guide called them. So, you have to go to the British Museum to see them. And you have to see the crown jewels to see Kohinoor Diamond that originally belonged to the Mughal emperors but was lost to them in 1849.

An upscale Indian rest area.

After the fort, we got in our bus for a three-and-a-half hour drive to Delhi. We knew we were stopping at a rest area for a late lunch and opted for Pizza Hut!

The Yumuna River today. The foam is caused by pollution.

Train to Agra

 

February 4, 2026, Wednesday

We were supposed to take the high speed rail from Varanasi to Agra, which would have meant a five-hour trip on a modern train. But best laid plans did not work out. When it came down to purchasing tickets, we found out there was no high speed train leaving on the day we had scheduled to leave. Instead, we had a different type of train adventure. We took the "super fast" ten-hour train that left at 7:30 am. We met our drivers at 5:30 am to get to the train station, with one pit stop on the side of the road while Goutam purchased tea for all who needed the caffeine to get going.

Notice the stacks of terra cotta cups.

Clay is in abundance in India. Instead of using single-use paper or plastic cups, outdoor tea shops sell their tea in these terra cotta cups. Once they have been used, people just toss them on the side of the road. (They incidentally do that with plastic and paper cups.) While we were in the hotel lobby waiting for our driver, Karl had a plastic water bottle he crushed and was looking for a trash can. The doorman took it from him, went outside the threw it on the ground!

In our first-class coup.

We had an assortment of seats for our ten-hour journey. Karl and I had a "coup" that had two bunk beds, a window and a small desk. Next door, Emily and three students had a "cabin" that had two bunks on each side. We both had a door to the hallway and a curtain, so it was a private space. The rest of the group, including Goutam-ji, were in second class. They had three bunks facing each other, but no private door. The walkway went down the middle of the car. Goutam wanted to be with the students to help them be mindful of their possessions. Our room came with clean sheets and a wool blanket. It didn't take long before we were both very sleepy. We laid down and dozed until we got a text that breakfast had arrived. Goutam ordered a toast sandwich and a juice box for all of us. When the train stopped, a delivery man brought it to him in his seat!

Reading an article on Hindu religion and I was suddenly very sleepy!

View from our window.

It was very interesting to see rural India. We have not seen crops growing anywhere, so we enjoyed looking out the window. We saw goats in herds with the goatherd, lambs, cows, water buffalos and dogs. Brickyards and kilns for firing bricks. Crops of wheat and rapeseed in bloom (for making canola oil). Monkeys. Not much in the way of motorized farm equipment. Humble homes. Humble Hindu temples and mosques. 

Second class car. It was very interesting to the students. Some had never even been on a train before!

This train was moving and incredibly crowded.

Goutam ordered lunch for us. It was challenging because it was in a shallow TV-dinner style tray with some very liquid sides and the train was bumpy! We brought cricket-themed Oreos for a snack.

Our train stopped frequently. There are many sections where there is only one set of rails, so we stopped and waited for the other train to pass. And as we approached Agra, Emily warned us to be ready. Our train would only stop for ten minutes and we should jump off. So, at the 5:20 stop, Emily and all of us in first class got off the train. I thought it was very strange that we were in Agra and the only ones getting off. And it was so quiet and sleepy. It didn't look like a big city. Then we heard Goutam-ji yelling at us to get back on the train. It was not our stop! He was standing on the platform a good four cars down. So, we scrambled to climb back on with our luggage only to sit on the train for another 25 minutes! We were crossing a railroad bridge and there was only one track and the other train had priority. So, in the end, it was not the rush we thought it was.

We got to the train station and were met by a big, fancy bus. We went to the hostel and checked in and then walked to a group dinner at a restaurant that boasted it had a view of the Taj Mahal. It was too dark and the air had poor visibility, so we are getting up at at 6:00 am for a morning tour. Another early morning tomorrow!