Falling for Japan

Falling for Japan Again Autumn colors, new luxury attractions and relaxed entry beckon Falling for Japan Again Autumn colors, new luxury attractions and relaxed entry beckon travelers yearning for adventure. BY JEANNE COOPER

Fall colors at To-ji Temple, Nara

It’s a new dawn for the land of the rising sun. After two years of some of the tightest travel restrictions in the world — including spectator-free Olympics in 2021 and a shutdown on all tourism through June of this year — Japan recently stopped requiring guided tours for international visitors and more than doubled the number of arrivals to 50,000 people a day. While entering the country still involves several key steps (see “Good to go”), this fall is an ideal time to ease your way in.

I love autumn in Japan, which brings brilliant red maple leaves, glowing yellow gingko trees and bright orange persimmons hanging out to dry. It’s still warm enough to be outside, where mask wearing is no longer expected, while seasonallyinspired menus and thermal pools can take any chill off. Bonus: The current exchange rate (approximately 140 yen to the dollar) makes the lower hotel rates this time of year even more favorable.

Tokyo

Despite its iconic skyscrapers and bustling urban vibe, the capital city has many tranquil enclaves where you can soak in fall colors, typically peaking in mid-November. A great place to start is right around the Imperial Palace, including its maple-studded East Gardens. More momijigari (“maple leaf viewing”) lies within a 30-minute subway ride. The 144-acre Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, formerly owned by the imperial family, is next to busy Shinjuku Station. Its greenhouse and variety of formal gardens reveal beauty throughout the year, but the Japanese garden and Momijiyama (“maple mountain”) on the east side burst with crimson maples in fall. It’s free to visit those gardens, but two private oases are also worth a visit. Admission to the Nezu

Museum, a treasure trove of premodern Japanese and East Asian art, costs about $10 and includes access to a large garden where moss-covered stone paths lead past a koi pond and several rustic teahouses. It’s under $3 to visit Rikugien, some 22 rolling landscaped acres around a central pond; created for a shogun in the early 18th century, its gardens were originally inspired by 88 scenes from Japanese poetry.

WHERE TO STAY

At Peninsula Tokyo, across from the Imperial Palace, you can view elegant arrangements of fall foliage and order seasonal, locally harvested vegetarian dishes from the new Naturally Peninsula menus inspired by Buddhist shojin cuisine. From $563, peninsula.com. Tokyo Prince Hotel is a surprisingly quiet, affordable option close to Tokyo Tower and compact Shiba Park, which has its own momijidani “maple valley.” From $112, princehotels.com.

Below: The Peninsula Tokyo Hotel; Peninsula Tokyo room service

Left page: The wooden tower of To-ji Temple in Nara; Right Page, clockwise from left: Penninsula Tokyo’s customized room service featuring ippudo ramen; Penninsula Tokyo decorated with fall foliage.

Taiko drumming

JAPAN SUPER LUXE

For smoothest sailing through Japan (or just a bucket-list blowout), consider traveling via a small cruise ship or private jet. Coral Expeditions’ new cruises for fall 2023 (from $8,092 per person, double occupancy; coralexpeditions.com) aboard the 120-passenger Coral Adventurer bring Japan’s small coastal villages and remote islands into focus. The 14-night Journey to Japan starts in Guam and heads to Iwo Jima, the mostly uninhabited Ogasawara Islands and the Izu archipelago, where volcanic Hachijojima is known for its hot springs and distinctive taiko drumming; the 14-night Through the Heart of Japan cruise hugs the coast and visits hamlets from Tokyo to Fukuoka. The Australian cruise line’s 16-night Through Japan’s Ryukyu Islands itinerary visits intriguing ports in the Tokara, Kerama and Okinawa island chains before passengers disembark in Taiwan. TCW World Travel’s private, all-inclusive 10day City to Shrine expeditions (from $25,450 per person, double occupancy; tcsworldtravel.com) employ a roomy 52-passenger jet with overnight stays at luxury hotels. Several experiences take place amid scenery that’s particularly ravishing in fall, such as riding the Hakone Ropeway above the smoky plumes of Mount Owakudani and bicycling through picturesque villages in Nara Prefecture, renowned for its freely roaming deer and Shinto shrines. City highlights include an omakase dinner from a master chef in Tokyo and a guided walk through Gion, Kyoto’s geisha district.

Kyoto

It’s hard to think anything can top the gleaming reflection of gilded Kinkakuji Temple in its adjacent pond, but having your obligatory Instagram pic framed by scarlet maple leaves might just do that. Even more eye-catching fall colors await at hillside Kiyomizudera Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Tofukuji Temple, where the nearly 700-year-old Zen gate is the country’s oldest. About 1,000 trees around Kiyomizu-dera temple change hues starting in mid-October through early December; view them from the dramatic 43-foothigh deck or from nearby Koyasu Pagoda, which also overlooks the temple. The red and gold foliage takes on an additional glow during the last two weeks of November, thanks to lighting for extended evening hours. Don’t forget to sample the clear water from one of three streams diverted from Otowa waterfall, for whom this “Pure Water Temple” is named. At Tofukuji, a major Zen temple, gaze across the colorful treetops in the valley toward the 328-footlong Tsutenkyo Bridge. You can also spring for admission (about $5) to walk along the ornately covered bridge, but if it appears too crowded, just take your time perambulating through the gardens of the massive complex.

Chef’s Table menu from Roku Kyoto’s restaurant Tenjin

WHERE TO STAY

The new 114-room Roku Kyoto is the first Hilton in the region, as part of its luxury LXR Hotels & Resorts brand, on the former site of an artists colony. Vistas of the Tagakamine Mountains and Tenjin River provide inspiration, while rooms with private onsen (hot spring) baths, the large outdoor onsen pool and Roku Spa provide relaxation. For fall, the hotel’s FrenchJapanese restaurant Tenjin’s 10-course Chef’s Table menu features Kyoto duck, Japanese mushrooms and salmon. From $421, hilton.com.

Torii gates at the Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto

LEFT PAGE: CORAL EXPEDITIONS (DRUMMING); ROKU KYOTO (CHEF’S); RIGHT PAGE: JEANNE COOPY (DAIGO-JI TEMPLE)

Daigo-ji Temple, Kyoto

Centrally located Hotel Okura Kyoto has comfy Western-style rooms and indoor pool, plus a variety of restaurants including Pittoresque, which pairs a French menu with superb mountain and city views. From $146, okura-nikko.com.

Hida Takayama

A charming, walkable mountain town west of the Olympic city of Nagano, Hida Takayama really goes for the gold at Hida Kokubunji Temple. There an enormous gingko tree said to be more than 1,000 years old turns bright yellow, roughly mid-October to mid-November, as it towers over ancient buildings. A mix of evergreens and maples create a colorful quilt wrapped around Hida no Sato (Hida Folk Village), an open-air historical museum with more than 30 traditional buildings, including many with steep, thatched gassho-zukuri roofs that resemble a hybrid of Swiss chalets and Cotswolds cottages. From late October to early November, the museum illuminates the trees at night. While there are more strenuous hikes through the Hida Mountains (nicknamed the Japanese Alps) that leaf-peepers will love, I’ve enjoyed Hida Takayama’s easier, 2.2-mile Higashiyama Walking Course, which meanders past temples and shrines through showy maples and sturdy pines. Afterwards, seek out one of the town’s seven sake breweries for tastings and try one of several restaurants serving grill-your-own Hida beef, the silky local version of Wagyu beef.

WHERE TO STAY

Spa Hotel Alpina Hida Takayama offers Western or Japanese-style rooms, dining, an indoor and outdoor onsen. From $65; see Japanese-only spa-hotel-alpina. com or booking sites like hotels.com.

GOOD TO GO

As of press time, Japan still requires international visitors to:

• Book flights and hotels through a travel agency, which will provide a certificate to obtain a visa. There’s a list of Japan specialist travel agents at japan.travel/en/us/ japan-travel-specialists. • Have a certificate of vaccination (two shots plus booster) or negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of departure. • Install the MySOS app on their phones or use its related website.

• Register online at digital.go.jp/en/ services/visit_japan_web-en. For possible updates on travel restrictions, see japan.travel.

Out & About

CALENDAR / ON THE SCENE / DINE

ART

Moad SF

LISTING ON PAGE 99

© DANA SCRUGGS

Dana Scruggs, Fire on the Beach, 2019, from The New Black Vanguard Wild Arugula Salad (Aperture, 2019)

Calendar

THEATER / COMEDY / MUSIC / GALLERIES / MUSEUMS / EVENTS / FILM EDITED BY CHRISTINA MUELLER

THEATER

Oct 21–Nov 13 After I’m Dead Actress and playwright Vivien Straus admits that her favorite thing to do is talk to cows. This is not odd for Straus, the founder of the California Cheese Trail and manager of Straus Home Ranch in Marshall, her former childhood home. The child of Ellen Straus, cofounder of Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) and innovative dairyman Bill Straus, she is also the sister of Albert Straus, who owns and operates Straus Family Creamery. Perhaps, then, it is in the Straus spirit that the title of her new play is “After I’m Dead, You’ll Have to Feed Everyone.” Straus, who had a terrific relationship with her mther, told her she was writing a play about her before she passed away in 2002. “When she died, many funny things happened, and I thought, ‘I have to write these down,” Straus says. “She was someone people really loved, and she had a tremendous impact on Marin County.” Straus calls the play a love letter to her mom, Marin’s dairy godmother. She plays the parts of herself, Ellen and, you guessed it, a cow. “I play 10 humans and one cow in the play,” Straus confirm. Performed in a barn at the Straus Home Ranch, the show is sure to be as unique as each Straus family member. vivienstraus.com

ARTS & LECTURES

THROUGH OCT 5 Antony and Cleopatra

With a libretto adapted from Shakespeare’s tragedy and supplementary passages drawn from Plutarch, Virgil and other classical texts, San Francisco Opera director Elkhanah Pulitzer blends the mythic imagery of antiquity with the starry glamour of 1930s Hollywood to open the centennial season. sfopera.com

THROUGH NOV 11

Renewal The Grand Opening art exhibition at the new BelvedereTiburon Library Art Gallery considers the act of becoming new again with 44 artworks that range from soulful pastel portraits to watercolors while embracing nature as a new beginning or speaking to transcendence. beltiblibrary.org

OCT 7–9 Fre!heit

After a four-month delay imposed by US Customs, German choreographer David Brandstätter, in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Michelle Jacques, debuts “Freedom,” balancing on porcelain cups to enforce the allegory while Jacques narrates, sings and sermonizes from a repurposed pulpit. sfiaf.org

OCTOBER 19–23 On

Beckett Conceived and performed by Tony Award-winner Bill Irwin, the Irish writer’s language and performers’ relationship to the writer will be explored in an intimate 90-minute evening. act-sf.org

OCT 21–23 Astianatte

An opera from 18th-century Italian composer Leonardo Vinci (no, not “da Vinci”) is based on legends from Homer’s Iliad and recounts the tragedy of Andromaca

Astianatte

(Andromache), widow of the Trojan hero Hector following their loss to the Greeks, with plenty of gender reversals and heaps of duty and honor at the expense of all. odc.dance

OCT 27–JAN 28, 2023

Jota Mombaça The Brazilian interdisciplinary artist and nonbinary travesti of color (Latin American slang reappropriated by transfeminist activists as a local, political gender identity) pops up at San Francisco’s Kadist for a three-month residency with their show, “The Sinking Ship/ Prosperity.” kadist.org

OCT 28–30 Ni’Ja

Whitson The experimental performance artist from The NWA Project performs A Meditation on Tongues, an adaptation of Marlon INC.

MarinMag_SBird_Oct_2022.indd 1 8/10/22 5:44 PM

T. Riggs’ Tongues Untied (1989), framing new questions about loss during the AIDS pandemic while challenging Black and queer masculinities. odc.dance MUSIC

OCT 1–2 Afrobeats

Three of Nigeria’s biggest acts, Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido, coheadline a new music festival in San Jose alongside Ella Mai, Skepta, Kizz Daniel, Sean Paul, Tems and more. lostinriddim.com

OCT 2 Bach Keyboard

Concerti Kicking off their 50th season with a new name, Chamber Music Marin, formerly known as the Mill Valley Chamber Music Society, invited harpsichordists Janine Johnson and Yuko Tanaka to lead a five-string ensemble and showcase Bach’s singular genius. chambermusicmarin.org

OCT 6 Silversun

Pickups The band’s sixth album, Physical Thrills, came together in the depths of 2020 with what singer Brian Aubert calls “dream shanties,” enhancing the band’s sound with previously unexplored sonic fixtures. thefoxoakland.com

OCT 7 Matt Nathanson

The San Franciscobased indie rock artist best known for his 2007 breakthrough hit, “Come on Get Higher,” makes a stop in town in support of his freshest album, “Last of the Great Pretenders.” palaceoffinearts.org

OCT 14 Outlaw Music

Festival Featuring the Avett Brothers, Black Pumas and Larkin Poe, headliner Willie Nelson is joined on stage by his guitarplaying sons, Lukas and Micah, while he tours in support of his 72nd studio album, A Beautiful Time, released in April. mountainview amphitheater.com

OCT 16 Identities

Berkeley Symphony launches its new season by exploring individual triumphs and challenges, including “Upon Daybreak,” a world premiere from composer-in-residence Brian Raphael Nabors, and “Violin Concerto No. 2,” from pioneering AfricanAmerican composer Florence Price, featuring violinist Rachel Barton Pine and paired with Tchaikovsky’s “Fifth Symphony.” berkeleysymphony.org

OCT 26 Beethoven’s

Cello Sonata Though it may be surprising that Beethoven was the first composer to bring the cello into a solo voice, pianist Ian Scarfe and special guest cellist James Jaffe will perform the 3rd Cello Sonata in A Major, from the composer’s “heroic” period, with discussion and history of the music, in an onlineonly live performance. marinjcc.org

COMEDY

OCT 1 Chelsea Handler

The television host, best-selling author (Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea) and comedian who recently released her first stand-up special in over six years, “Chelsea Handler: Evolution,” takes to the stage for a live show in Saratoga. mountainwinery.com

FILM

OCT 6–16 Green Film

Festival A mix of 40-plus independent feature and short-length films from around the world, including “For the Bees” from Oakland’s Chloë Fitzmaurice, focus on green and environmental issues in revealing ways, to view in-person at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater and online. sfindie.com

OCT 6–16 Mill Valley

Film Festival For the first time in its 45-year history, the film festival from the heart of Marin will screen movies at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, in addition to screenings in Mill Valley, San Rafael, Larkspur, Berkeley and online, while continuing the tradition of celebrating the best in American independent and world cinema. mvff.com

OCT 28–NOV 7 Dance

Film Festival The opening night festivities celebrate dance film shorts and many of the artists featured in the films, a night of Bay Area Shorts is back, and more than 52 films in eight programs are offered at theaters around the bay and online. sfdancefilmfest.org

Dance Film Festival

MUSEUMS

THROUGH NOV 27 Faith Ringgold

Bringing together more than 50 years of work, including her experimental story quilts and paintings of her renowned American People and Black Light series, this retrospective of the American artist traces the artist’s evolution that expanded to consider the political and social changes taking place in the United States throughout her life. deyoung.famsf.org

THROUGH FEB 12, 2023 Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs

Exploring the life and accomplishments of Ramses the Great, more than 180 objects in this exhibition demonstrate the opulence and power of ancient Egyptian civilization, while a virtual-reality offering, “Ramses and Nefertari: Journey to Osiris,” takes you on a tour of two of the Egyptian king’s most impressive monuments, Abu Simbel and Nefertari’s Tomb. deyoung.famsf.org

OCT 5–MARCH 5, 2023 The New Black Vanguard: Photography Between Art and

Fashion Curated by Antwaun Sargent, this

JOIN US FOR OPEN HOUSE ON OCTOBER 16! ADDITIONAL EVENT INFORMATION AT MARINCATHOLIC.ORG

program will take over all of the museum’s major galleries to highlight 100 works from 15 contemporary fashion photographers whose images present radically new perspectives on race, beauty, gender and power in the mediums of photography and art. moadsf.org

OCT 7–JUNE 11, 2023 Angela Davis

Contemporary artworks assert the significance of Oakland’s Black feminism intellectual and engage with her as a historical participant in a larger narrative in a new exhibition focused on Davis and her image, “Seize the Time.” museumca.org

OCT 13–APRIL 9, 2023 Family Matters

Organized into four acts, with photographs dating from 1999–2020, a solo exhibition of more than 60 photographs captures photographer Gillian Laub’s family landscape — emotional and psychological — and reflects the unfolding of a deeply conflicted and polarized nation, tearing at family ties and asking, “What, in the end, really binds us together?” thecjm.org

EVENTS

SEPT 30–OCT 31

Unhinged A terrifying house tour with multiple “scare routes” is just part of the fun at Winchester Mystery House’s immersive haunted house, presaged by Madam Nightshade’s Spirit Carnival, with midway games, axe throwing, Fortuna’s Tent of Mystery, the Spookeasy Bar and more. winchesterunhinged.com

OCT 1 Imagine That

With a repertoire of enchantments, mind reading and magic tricks, illusionist David Gerard headlines the entertainment alongside dinner from chef Catherine Venturini of Cuvée Wine Country Events, a mezcal tasting and more at Sonoma Valley Museum of Art’s annual gala. svma.org

OCT 7–NOV 5 The

Summoning The good folx at San Franciscobased Into The Dark are back at The Mint with an immersive experience that invites guests to a live seance where they may come face to face with demonic spirits while attempting to retrieve the severed head of an unethical vampire queen; plus the return of Fang Bang and CreepShop. terrorvault.com

OCT 8 Pinot on the River With proceeds benefiting Sonoma

New Roots Theater Festival Angela Davis

County Pride, Santa Rosa’s Old Courthouse Square hosts a day of tasting more than 40 West Coast pinot noirs, including a Grand Tasting with artisan food vendors. pinotfestival.com

OCT 8 Piper on the

Ridge Bring a picnic dinner and a flashlight to watch the sun set over Inverness Ridge and usher in a new season with the harvest moon while listening to a bagpiper’s evocative tunes at one of a slate of relaunched events from West Marin’s Environmental Action Committee. eacmarin.org

OCT 14–16 New Roots

Theater Festival Brava Theater Center returns with eight original projects that center on BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ voices, including The Day the Sky Turned Orange, a theatrical concept album examining the events of September 9, 2020 and Sign My Name to Freedom: The Unheard Songs of Betty Reid Soskin, which explores the life and music of the Bay Area legend and America’s oldest living park ranger, among others. sfbatc.org

OCT 21–23 Anderson Valley Wine Harvest

Celebration A new event honoring the season includes events at 27 wineries, a pig roast in the tradition of a French “boucherie” festival with renowned chef Scott Baird, and an evening of Cinema in the Vineyard hosted

by Mendocino Film Festival. avwines.com

OCT 22 Sandcastle

Classic San Francisco’s Ocean Beach is once again taken over by architecture, design, technology, engineering and construction companies in partnership with students from local schools to build what they can while raising funds for arts and architecture education for more than 8,500 Bay Area public school students. leapsandcastleclassic.org

OCT 22 Sound Summit

Staged at Mt. Tam’s Mountain Theater, a daylong festival of music returns to Marin with headliner The War on Drugs joined by Faye Webster, Fruit Bats and Bay Area-based Wreckless Strangers; with KNBR’s Murph & Mac (aka Brian Murphy and Paul McCaffrey) as masters of ceremonies, KPFA radio host Tim Lynch and DJ Andy Cabic of Vetiver fame. soundsummit.net

OCT 24–30 Champagne Week

Not content to limit the thrill of France’s bubbly export to its anointed day (Oct 28), Auberge du Soleil is celebrating all week with a six-course prix fixe paired tasting menu from executive chef Robert Curry, courtyard wine tastings from iconic champagne producers, champagne cocktails and more bubbly throughout the resort. aubergeresorts.com

Champagne Week