Gifu- Site of Reversible Destiny & Yoro Falls

On September 2nd, we took a day trip to Gifu Prefecture to visit some good friends, Celeste and Sonya, who are also Americans living in Japan. Scott actually knows Celeste from way back in the High School days! They've been here for over 3 years, teaching English, livin' the dream.

We met at Ogaki station and took the local rail to Yoro.

Famous Yoro gourds, hanging at the station! Wow!

Statue outside the station

Lets hear it for gourds!!

We walked to Yoro Park: The Site of Reversible Destiny. Its a theme park of sorts, designed by 2 architects. The point is to make you think about every step you take and allow yourself to get lost. It was pretty silly, but a fun experience. I captioned some of the photos with directions taken right from the park map/brochure. But don't expect that to make it any more sensible.

"Enter the house several times, each time through a different entranceway".

"Make use of the Exactitude Ridge to register each measured sequence of events that makes up the distance. "

" Strive to find a marked resemblance between yourself and the house. If by chance you fail to do so, proceed even so as though the house were your identical twin. "

"Should an unexpected event occur, freeze in place for as long as you see fit. Then adopt a more suitable (for being more thought out) position for an additional twenty seconds or so."

"Move through the house as though you were presently living in it or as though you were its next resident." 

 "Try to incorporate two or more horizons into every view."

"Instead of being fearful of losing your balance, look forward to it (as a desirable re-ordering of the landing sites, formerly known as the senses). "

"Use each set of furniture as a concrete reference for the other sets. "

"If thrown off-balance when entering the house, call out your name or, if you prefer, someone else's. "

A very inconvenient layout for a kitchen.

"Search out identical moments in segments of the house that are remote from one another. Attempt this initially with strikingly similar configurations and eventually with widely divergent ones. "

"Search out identical moments in segments of the house that are remote from one another. Attempt this initially with strikingly similar configurations and eventually with widely divergent ones. "

Looking up

Its like walls grew upwards like plants

The cieling

The office

map?

"When moving through the Elliptical Field, remember as many views of the Critical Resemblance House as possible, and vice versa."

Might want to stay on this road

Tall doors!

The long road

"Exactitude Ridge"

 "Try to draw the sky down into the bowl of the field. "

Taking the "Kinethetic Pass"

The walkway was barely wide enough for 1 person

Under the domes...

Even smaller passageways!

So pretty

"Always question where you are in relation to visible and invisible chains of islands known as Japan. "

"Vary the rate at which you proceed."

"Destiny House"

"Associate each of the extreme forms your body is forced to assume in traversing the Field with both a nearby and a distant form. "

" If accidentally thrown completely off-balance, try to note the number, and also the type and the placement, of the landing sites essential to reconstituting a world."

"Frequently swing around to look behind you. "

Group pic!

"Minimize the number of focal areas (perceptual landing sites) at any given moment. "

"If an area or a landing site catches your eye and attracts your interest to the same degree as the area through which you are actually moving, take it up on the spot, pursuing it as best you can as a parallel zone of activity. "

"Within the Zone of the Clearest Confusion, always try to be more body and less person. "

"Geographical Ghost"... This small passage is a dark, mazy hallway and you have to feel your way to the end- where you see a tiny skylight...

The shape of the skylight is....?

JAPAN!!!

"Inside the Geographical Ghost, renege on all geographically related pledges of allegiance. "

"To make a decision or to become more subtle or more daring (or both) in regard to a previous decision, use the Mono no Aware Transformer. "

"Wander through the ruin known as the Destiny House or the Landing Site Depot as though you were an extra-terrestrial. "

Since we were able to leave the park, I couldn't tell if our destinies were reversed. Next we walked onward to Yoro Falls.

VIEWS!!!!

3D Belly

This ice cream revived us, it was so hot outside.

Hi everyone! Another friend Ayako is here too!

Streams in the shape of gourds

I love it.

Going up to the waterfall.

Gorgeous!!

The covers have different designs in all different areas of Japan

Can I live here??

Celeste and Scott

Getting closer...

Catching up with the crowd

Yoro Falls is officially one of the top 100 waterfalls in Japan

I see it!!

32 Meters High

We made it!

Our group doodle

Memorials and offerings at the falls

Another friend! 

Even the rocks blew my mind.

On the way home, we waded in the coolest, most refreshing stream.

RAINBOW! This day was magic.

On the way back to the station, we wandered past a ninja training ground. No really, the sign said something about ninjas!! But it also said something about not using the park if you are over 12. But there was no one else there that would be bothered, so we trained hard!

Zipline horse

YIPEE!

Looking natural

Scott was the most skilled ninja of all.

This was really hard!

This one, not so hard.

I'm confused too, panda.

Move like the wind!

Ground is lava!! Celeste get outta the lava!!

Up the rock slide

Swinging monkey bars

Pain machine

 After training, we walked back to the station.

Someone's mansion

These spiders are everywhere in rural Japan. They are not dangerous. Very pretty! 

Waiting at Yoro Station

Yaki Soba with CHEESE!

YES please!

Amazing day with amazing friends! I would like to spend more time int the rural areas of Japan. Sometimes, the 3 million people of downtown Osaka  are a little too much! This was a great get away.