Back to the homeland. . .

Hi Everyone,

Chris and I returned from Kyoto on Friday night, but I'm only now summoning the mental strength to blog about our trip. There was just so much to see and do there - it's overwhelming trying to describe it all! But here goes. A warning: it's going to be loooong. Feel free to skim instead.

Last Monday afternoon, we caught a "highway bus" (kind of like the equivalent of the US' Greyhound system) down to Tokyo. Arriving around 4pm, we immediately went to buy our tickets for the overnight "Dream Bus" to Kyoto, having decided it would save on hotels and be much cheaper than the Shinkansen (or Bullet Train). We chose the 11pm departing bus because we didn't want to get to Kyoto so early in the morning that everything was closed. Of course, this left us with about 6 1/2 hours to kill in the meantime. And it was pouring buckets outside. (Somehow, whenever we go down to Tokyo it starts raining - maybe it senses our NW auras)

Anyway, we walked over to the Imperial Palace Gardens to look at the swans in the moat. Yes, they call it a moat. But it was really coming down and we worried about our bags getting mildew before we'd even gotten to our destination. So, we made our way down into the bowels of Tokyo Station, which turned out to be, you guessed it, a huge shopping center. Shopping is truly king in this city. You could find bikinis, sake, fancy deli meats, Hello Kitty t-shirts, and just about anything else you can imagine, and all this just in Tokyo Station! We had a quick dinner and people-watched, although it quickly became high-heel-watching due to the overwhelming abundance of stiletto or platform clad women, usually with very very short skirts or shorts. How can they spend all day walking in those? It's beyond me. . .

Finally, after multiple card games, walking in circles around the station, scouting for available benches (which are few and far between) we were able to get on the bus. We booked the cheap one, so we shouldn't have been surprised that the bus was just like any other, and ill-equipped to host sleeping passengers. Yes, there were curtains pulled so that most of the street lights couldn't get in, but that was it. Anyway, I estimate that we each got maybe an hour of sleep, broken into very small chunks. So, getting off at Kyoto Station at 6:15 am, we were already exhausted. But our hotel wouldn't check us in until 2pm - despite having advance warning of this, we still cursed the gods...So, more walking around for 2+ hours until the station Tourism Office opened and we could get maps and subway directions in English. We decided to drop our stuff off at the hotel early, so at least our shoulders could recover a bit.

After unloading (and looking longingly at the elevators taking people up to their rooms), we walked over to what we thought was Nijo-jo Castle, but turned out to be the Imperial Gardens of Kyoto. We discovered a lovely little shrine down one of the paths, where several cats were hanging out watching the coi swimming in the moat. Yep, another moat. And more coi - the Japanese really love their coi ponds. We also saw tons of turtles swimming around with them, which cheered us up enough to continue wandering around.

By the way, let me just tell you that when you arrive in Kyoto in the morning, your ears will be assaulted with a deafening buzzing. Apparently, it's the world headquarters for the cicada population, and they all buzz to each other for about 9 hours from morning till late afternoon, then mysteriously stop before dinnertime. Walking around in the Imperial Gardens, we started noticing all of these big brown, dead bugs on the pathways. At first, we just thought it was weird and tried not to step on them. Then we came upon a tree where there were several of these things basically attached to the bark. Upon closer examination, however, Chris the Animal Expert pronounced the bugs just empty carapaces (old exo-skeletons) of the cicadas. So, the park is littered with bug shells, basically.

Later, we watched part of a baseball game, ordered yummy frozen coffee drinks at a coffee shop with A/C and soft chairs, and then made our way back to the hotel to sit on their couches and wait till check-in. Chris had the great idea to ask them if we could go up early, and they relented. Nap time! A good 4 hours later, we emerged showered and with renewed energy.

We had been given a restaurant guide by the hotel, and we made our way to the Gion district (where all the famous Geisha lived back in the day, and where a select few still apparently work). We walked along the river, which at night is beautiful with lantern-bedecked restaurants and shops along its banks. We found our restaurant, which was pretty hole-in-the-wall but a fabulous find. This place could maybe fit 8 or 9 people inside, where everyone sits at the bar. We chose the "Genghis Khan" set, and watched as the cheerful chef put a big pot in front of us that had hot coals and flames inside, then set some kind of rounded grill cover on it. Then he poured on bean sprouts, green peppers, onions, etc. When they were mostly cooked, he added chunks of fresh mutton (which I had never actually eaten before) and handed us little dishes of sauce with chopsticks. We were instructed to just take what we wanted directly off of the grill pot, and dunk them in our sauce before eating. Let me tell you, one of the best meals I've ever had. I think Chris was even more in love with it, though, as he couldn't stop eating the bean sprouts and veggies, not just the meat. He raved about it the whole trip, actually ;)

Later we just walked around the neighborhood, and even caught the end of a special shrine being carried over a bridge by a huge crowd of men in traditional white robes and pants. There was a lot of yelling, and incense. We ended up walking around a huge shopping area, and just checking out the Kyoto nightlife.

The next day we had a lot to see. After breakfast in a famous Kyoto coffee shop, we found the correct Nijo-jo Castle. The day was hot and humid, in the heaviest sense imaginable. My shirt was drenched before noon. The castle was really neat, though. You have to take off your shoes, as per Japanese custom in nearly any highly respected place. As you walk, you notice the floor creaking a lot. Apparently this feature was an intentional design, so that guards could easily detect any intruders. The walls of each room were carved or painted with hawks, nightingales, and just really lovely ancient scenes. They even had mannequins set up in traditional costume with placards reading about their position in the room and what that signified about their status.

Next we took a bus (having bought 2-day all-access cards that let us on the subway and all buses) to Kinkaku-ji Temple. This is one of the most famous temples in Kyoto. One minute you're just walking up a very normal paved path through some trees, the next minute you're staring at a huge golden pavilion, which is literally painted in golf leaf and very impressive. A great photo op, let me tell you. We took a path all the way around the pavilion, and picked up some really neat postcards and trinkets.

Our last major stop of the day was the Ryoanji Temple, which houses a famous Zen rock garden. We were ushered inside, where there were at least 25 other tourists just sitting quietly either staring at the garden or praying. It's not a very big rock garden, only 30m x 10m. It consists of raked gravel and 15 small boulders, although apparently from any angle in the garden you can only see 14. The Buddhist concept behind this was that only through Enlightenment would you be able to see the 15th stone. Pretty neat.


That night we just picked up some food and collapsed in bed to watch bizarre Japanese tv shows, a memorable one involving a moody teenage boy who turns out to be a vampire, and may or may not have a questionable relationship with his teacher. He was also followed by an older man who might have been Satan, but we really couldn't figure it out.

The next day (our last in Kyoto) we started out with The Museum of Kyoto, which happened to be just a few blocks from the hotel. The first room had to do with the history of Japanese cinema, which was pretty interesting. Lots of black and white pictures of movies that looked a lot like Hollywood film of the same era, complete with cheesy titles and strange hairdos. Although there were a few Samurai films thrown in, and a huge replica of the Oscar won for Kurasawa's Rashomon. The 2nd floor had really cool models of the way different districts of Kyoto looked hundreds of years ago, and the progression of Kyoto as cultural capital of Japan. We tried not to break the bank buying postcard prints of amazing paintings, but the temptation was strong.

Later we took a bus up to Ginkaku-ji Temple (not to be confused with Kinkaku-ji). After getting off we still had to walk up a hill to the temple, and passed by tons of different touristy shops and stands, and women in kimonos offering tastes of fruit-flavored mochi (rice dough pastry). Once through the gate (all the temples and shrines have huge wooden gates, sometimes painted red, which are really just kind of A-shaped archways) there was a really peaceful air. The main pavilion was being worked on, but there was a rock garden, beautiful little bridges and ponds, and lovely bamboo fences. Little shrines were tucked away around corners or down narrow pathways. We took a path that led up a hill, where you could get a fantastic view not only of the temple, but also Kyoto - I loved this place, my absolute favorite thing in Kyoto.

Afterwards we took a bus back down to the Higashiyama district, near Gion, to wander through Maruyama Park. This place is literally packed with shrines and beautiful gates. Lanterns hung everywhere. There were neat fountains with metal cups with long handles, where you are supposed to purify your hands before praying. Other shrines had long ropes that you pull to ring a bell before praying, ostensibly to get the spirits' attention? Many of the people we saw praying were older, which seems to make sense considering the generational divide in this country.

That night, we returned to the Gion district to find some dinner - we stopped in a little place that made good tempura and grilled meat, where we met the proprietor who spoke very good English. We chatted for a bit, he was surprised to learn that we were ALT's - I think 99% of the non-Japanese visitors to Kyoto are tourists on vacation, so people were always surprised that we could speak a little Japanese, like saying the proper thing before eating "itadakimasu" and after eating "gochisou samadeshita". Afterwards we walked to Gion Corner, where they produce short performances of Japanese artistic and creative mediums. A sampler of Japanese culture, if you will. We saw snippets of the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, court music and dance, Japanese harp, geisha dance, Kyogen (comic interludes between longer pieces, very vaudevillian) and Bunraku, puppet theatre. The last two were our favorites, of course. We had actually studied them a bit at WWU, so it was amazing to watch live.

Later we sat by the river and just soaked it all in. We are so lucky to be able to experience these things - the whole trip, we kept remarking how much our families and friends would love to see this or that. Of course, we're really blessed to get to share these things with each other - in 20 years we'll still be able to remember these experiences and be so glad we came to Japan together.

The next morning we rose early, got to Kyoto Station and bought our tickets back. No night bus this time, thankfully. We spent all of Friday on buses, first from Kyoto to Tokyo, then Tokyo to Aso where we live. We were exhausted, but it was nice to be back in our quiet little town. And we still have 4 weeks left of vacation! I think our next order of business is to make up our own board game. We'll let you know how it goes ;)