Japan_journey

Between the 13th and the 17th of September this year Katrina and Ted Witten of Rowandean Embroidery had the good fortune to go on a trip to Japan sponsored by our good friends and Japanese distributors Motoaki and Fukiko Yoshida. The purpose of this visit was for Katrina to give a short lecture and a workshop on British Embroidery for their customers at an exhibition of embroidery by Mrs. Yoshida and her friends.

	After a very long but comfortable journey from Birmingham England to Tokyo via Zurich, we were met by Mr. Yoshida at Narita Airport. We then went by train into Tokyo then immediately onto the famous bullet train back out into the countryside.
During the train journey we were joined by Mrs. Yoshida and her sister. The landscape changed the further away from Tokyo we went. The dense housing was gradually replaced by beautiful fields of ripe golden rice awaiting harvest.
	We left the bullet train at the town of Shirigawa which is situated in a valley at the base of tall mountains. The valley is dominated by the beautiful 11th century castle at the top of this page. The Yoshidas then treated us to our first real taste of Japan; sushi! Katrina had never had sushi before and was very brave at the prospect of eating raw fish. However, the sushi was very well prepared and quite delicious.
After sushi, we continued to a nearby Buddhist shrine where we tied prayers on long strings along with thousands of others. Katrina prayer said that she had the good fortune of being the luckiest person there (at that moment)!
	We then drove through heavy fog spilling down mountainsides exactly like ancient Japanese woodcut prints. The juxtaposition of completely flat bright gold rice fields and the vertical suga pines with their dark foliage against the mountains was breathtaking. The road was one the most twisted that I have yet traveled.
Nineteen hours after having left our home in Derbyshire we finally arrived at our destination: British Hills. Having traveled half-way around the world we found ourselves back in Britain! A truly surreal experience.