Japanese Influence #1 - Nintendo

Nintendo!

It has always been there. It has influenced me, my generation and the world.
There is no-one my age that I know who hasn't played either a Game Boy/DS or Nintendo console system. I have literally grown up with Nintendo, always hoping to unwrap something from Nintendo for my birthday's and Christmas'. I even got 2 Wii games last Christmas! I have the fondest memories playing Nintendo games throughout my life. Some of these was when I was competing against my sisters and even getting my parents to play the Wii!

But lets go back to the beginning....

It was my 10th birthday and the Nintendo Game Boy had just been released. It was all I wanted and I was lucky enough to get one as a present from my parents.

Looking back at the screen and graphics now, it is astonishing to see how far we have come from a two-toned pixelated screen to the latest DS (Game Boy) and Wii (console).

But what is more astonishing is that the games I played on this basic screen with limited gaming capacity are some of the best I have ever played. Was it because these games were the first of their kind and I was a child or was it because of the game play?

I recently found some of my original Game Boy games and I can't believe that 21 years after its release I still have my favourite Game Boy game which is of course Super Mario Land. I have managed to lose Tetris which was probably the second most played game in my collection.

My Game Boy games

Super Mario Land - the original!

I also somehow managed to keep all the instruction booklets to the games!

I opened the instruction manual for Super Mario Bros to find that my memories came flooding back with the pictures of the characters and enemies and worlds within the game. Do you remember these characters and enemies?

The different versions of Mario

I have always been a Nintendo loyalist. I have owned nearly all versions of the Game Boy and the new DS and nearly all the versions of the gaming console.

I find that the games on Nintendo appeal most to me with the simple formats, adventure based story lines and easy to use controls.

I love the new DS and my favourite console would be the Nintendo 64 which had some of the BEST games of all time (Banjo Kazooie, Mario 64, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong Racing and Golden Eye).
I do love the Wii with the infrared controllers and Super Mario Galaxy was ground breaking in its game play. The Wii is a definite close second to the Nintendo 64.

Have you been influenced by Nintendo over the years? What is your favourite game? What is your favourite system?

G

My own private Cherry Blossom Season

As it is spring here in Australia, it means it is our turn for cherry blossom season.

I have 2 different varieties of cherry trees in my front yard and one of the trees is bursting with blossoms already.

It is a weeping cherry blossom tree and it is a light pink colour. The little blossoms always remind me of pom poms as they are the variety with lots of petals.

Some of the flowers are completely out, but most of the tree is not blooming yet.

Every day I am out in the garden examining my beautiful tree and inspecting all of the buds to see how long until some of them burst open.

Of course being in my front yard with 2 Sakura trees is nothing compared to Japan and it only ignites my longing to be in Japan or at least planning a trip there!

Maybe tonight I will have a glass of  Honey Ume Shu (plum wine) and pretend i am having my own private Hanami (Cherry blossom viewing party)!

Do you have cherry blossoms (Sakura) starting to bloom where you are?

Enjoy the next few photos :)

G

Buds getting ready to burst open

Nearly open

Sakura in all its glory

Beautiful

I see Red! - Fushimi Inari Shrine

It was a typical winters day in Kyoto. Blue sky, sunshine and crisp cold air. A perfect day for visiting Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Those of you who have seen the movie 'Memoirs of a Geisha' will recall a scene where the young Sayuri runs through a series of red Torii gates. Well this is the place.

With over 10,000 Torii gates forming unique tunnels, you can easily lose track of time as you explore the grounds. The Torii gates are primarily donated by businesses for good luck with the names of the businesses written on the back of the gates.

The shrine is a Shinto shrine and Inari is the Japanese God for fertility, farming, industry and rice. The God is often represented by a fox which is why there are Fox statues found throughout the shrine.

The gates are more densely packed at the beginning of the shrine and it is only at the upper most parts do the gates become more sparse.

The entrance to the winding path is formed by two tunnels of Torii gates.



The entry to the winding path of the shrine

 The tunnels seem to go on forever in some parts and if you are lucky enough, you may get a view with no-one walking through like this.

The back of the Torii with the names of the donors painted on them

There are 2 main parts to Fushimi Inari shrine. Most people only do the first section which gets you to a fantastic view point over looking Kyoto and a tourist shop selling mini-Torii gates. What i thought was really interesting was when I bought my mini Torii, the man who sold it to me struck 2 pieces of flint together to make a spark over my gate for what i can only assume was for good luck.

The ascent to the look-out was dotted with little restaurants serving tea and little cakes. We didn't manage to stop into one as it was too busy at that time of year (after New Year people come in droves to the shrines to pay their respects).

The view over Kyoto

The second section of Fushimi Inari is the one less travelled by tourists. The gates get less frequent and there are some really steep parts. To my amazement (and embarrassment) I was always being overtaken by old Japanese folk while ascending what I thought was an endless amount of stairs. There I am huffing and puffing away thinking I was going to faint at the next step, and spry old Japanese folk who are smaller than me are almost bounding up the stairs! Once you get to the top there are many graves and cats sleeping on top of them. I have no idea why the cats were way up on top of the mountain, but there were lots of them and they all looked cold!

One of the steepest sets of stairs

You can easily spend 3 hours or even more exploring Fushimi Inari shrine, especially if you stop at one of the little restaurants for a well deserved break. I highly recommend visiting the shrine, even if you aren't fond of climbing stairs or aren't physically able to do so. The bottom section of the path is easy to climb and you can still get soak up the atmosphere the Torii gates create without having to climb to the top. You can also stop and turn back at any point along the path if you can't go on.

Fushimi Inari shrine is a unique sight of Kyoto and well worth the visit. There is a train station close to the entrance and it is only two stops (5 minutes) on the JR Nara line from Kyoto.

G