京都 part 1

This is the long awaited post of Kyoto, Japan's old capital and one of the oldest cities in the world. It's possibly my favorite place in all of Japan. It was a little crowded at times, but it's a very large tourist trap in this country, so I can't say I blame them. But it wasn't anything like Tokyo, and for that, I'm grateful.

The trip to Kyoto, however, did not start out well. We left Nisshin rather early in the morning and the drive to Kyoto was about an hour and a half. On the way there, it snowed! My friends and I got really excited, but when we hit Kyoto, it was pouring rain. I was pretty upset because I didn't bring my umbrella and we all had suitcases. Not only that, but the directions I had looked up beforehand to the hotel were rather confusing and the station in Kyoto was massive.

How much rain was coming down. That's City Hall in Kyoto which was near our hotel.
Kyoto Station's roof
Looking up and around at Kyoto Station
There were elevators going up and this is looking down from almost the top.

We eventually found our way thanks to a nice man who stopped and walked us all the way to the train. It was awesome and he spoke English fluently, even though I was speaking Japanese to him. However, finding the hotel was another adventure all in itself. We were in a very crowded area of Kyoto along a tight walkway of shops and restaurants. We were all in awe, but it was still raining pretty hard and we had all the suitcases. I had to stop in multiple places to ask for directions (since no one else in the group was willing to ask for help) and we finally found it (thankfully next door to a 7/11).

After we got to the hotel, we went out for karaoke and planned our trip out for the following days. We mapped out places and were going to go do most of the stuff the following day, following a path of castles and shrines. We also planned to try and find a spot to meet and greet Geisha, but it was a $100 per person and rather difficult to get to the area. As we only had three days, we decided against it. Oh well...another time, I guess

Day one of our trip began and we started it off by going to one of the most famous shrines in all of Kyoto: Fushimi Inari shrine. This was my absolute favorite place of Kyoto. It was gorgeous and I want to go back when the cherry blossoms bloom. The shrine itself is one that worships the fox as a clever spirit, but also one that brings wealth. There are various Torii through-out the shrine as well as statues of foxes. It's great for walking and getting lost as it is a massive shrine.

Here are just some of the pictures I took while there.

Sign from the train station
The backside of a Torii. It has engravings of who made it and such and some historical information about the area. I just love the black on red.
The little shopping area on the way to the shrine. There were amazing stores that I spent a great deal in. The shop keepers loved having us there. And one store was devoted entirely to chopsticks! I've never seen so many beautiful chopsticks! It was amazing! I bought three for my R.A.'s back at the dorm as a thank you for everything present
A Torii inside the shrine. Just one of MANY.
A broom still in use by Miko (shrine maidens) today. These are used not only to sweep and clean up the shrine, but to sweep away demons and bad spirits.
One of the many fox statues. Some are holding things in their mouth and that means good luck. It's best if you pass under their claws, if they're out. That's double good luck, or something.
A section of the shrine that's very famous. It's just hundreds of Torii that line up for a walkway. At the end of the walk, it splits up to even smaller Torii on two sides of the walkway. People who have seen "Memoirs of a Geisha" might know this area as a scene of the movie was filmed here.
The roots of this trunk were so cool. It was right there along the pathway.
The backside of the Torii have words written as to who made it, if it was dedicated, and where it came from.
You have to enlarge this photo to get the full effect of how amazing it is.
The map of the entire shrine. Enlarge to see just how huge this place really is.
These wooden fox shaped blocks were things you buy. On one side is the face of the fox that you can draw in. It can be any kind of face you want. On the other side, you write a wish that you hope can come true.
An old sign that's been around for who knows how long!
Some of the sights.

After Fushimi, it came time to go to the Pagoda in the middle of the city. Sadly, once we got there, we realized it cost quite a deal of money to get inside and we weren't willing to spend that much for something we couldn't even get inside. So we walked around the outer garden instead. It was a beautiful day and as we were about to leave, a man came up and talked to us. He was so polite and told us about the area. He explained that he was training to be a tour guide, so he tested his skill out on us. Amazingly, we understood everything he said. We felt quite proud of ourselves for that, let me tell you.

Here are some shots from the area.

Entrance to the area.
The pagoda!
Save for the cars on the right, it looks like I've stepped back in time!
Amazing sky!
A building that's been around probably longer than my country's been established.
The details around here are amazing
Deadly gutter I almost fell in more than once
Closer to the Pagoda.

After that area, we walked back to our hotel (much walking) and found the most amazing ice cream shop in the world. This place made my dreams come true (well almost. if it had bubblegum ice cream, I'd be set).

The lobby of the shop. So amazing...
THE BIGGEST TUB OF ICE CREAM EVER! It takes three days in advance to make and serves about 15 people. I was amazed this was in Japan considering this looks straight from America. My God...
I almost got this
Just a small sample of the menu. It was 8 pages of this
What my friend ordered. Yum...waffles...
WHAT I ORDERED! There's banana, chocolate, vanilla, whipped cream, corn flakes, strawberry, cherry, and pocky in that parfait

The next day, we visited the old Imperial Palace before it moved to Tokyo. Upon arriving, we realized, we can't actually go inside. This is because I didn't know that you had to send a postcard a month in advance requesting permission to go in for a tour. Not only that, but it was a long complicated hassle to go and get the permission slip once we obtained permission there in Kyoto and then walk with our tour guide to the place. And considering everyone in the group had split up and we didn't know beforehand if we would even be at the palace that day, it wasn't worth it.

So we walked around the gardens! It started snowing while it was sunny and it felt magical. I thought back to how long ago when people would run by here on horses and how carriages would progress the Emperor and his family back and forth centuries ago for so long... and how so many wonderful kimonos and elegantly dressed ladies would speak so poetically and sit under the trees Then I realized I was walking among that area and it felt really amazing. It kind of hit me while at the palace and I looked around at this immaculate place kept in perpetual standstill. It was like when I was in Hiroshima, except I didn't feel guilty or that skinless and bleeding people walked around. No, that time, it was like when I went to D.C. back in 8th grade.
I was walking around where some of the most powerful and influential people have walked before. People who made history, who controlled a country, who changed the face of the world and the face of an entire culture. I've been to two places were people like that walked and lived.

I'll finish up here with that and finish Kyoto's entry on another post with the pictures from the palace as well as the other castle we visited. Then I'll update about Osaka.

Wednesday is when the placement exams are so wish me luck! I hope I get bumped up two classes. I'll be happy with just one.

~星子☆