Kyoto Day 3!

So it's been a while since I've posted--sorry. Most of my already budgeted computer time was allocated to touching up a song for Melissa! She is now 16 and will soon have one of the world's most deadliest weapons at her hands~the automobile.

So Happy Birthday (again) Melissa!

Our 4th day we separated from Stacey and Jeremy (who went to Ginkakuji~the Golden Temple, already pictured in October's blogging) and went to a little garden that is basically across the street from our hostel. The garden is called Shoseien Garden. It was very small, but the space was used incredibly well, there were dozens of beautiful views as you went through. And the cherry trees were basically in ful bloom here.


Near an area highly-populated with cherry trees there was a fence with this sign posted on the fence~y'know, the way most people fence in a post signs saying "Beware of Dog."


Our next stop was Higashi Honganji a gorgeous, gigantic and well-kept temple. This temple was actually like walking into a church. Apart from the temple (where they were woshipping in a group). There was a new off-shoot area where people could sit and chat and have coffee and the feel was precisely like a church at home. There was an air of fellowship and it was interesting to see that in Buddhism, faithfully practiced, there is a sense of fellowship similar to the type Christianity has maintained since that which is described in Acts. I guess it just shows that a key part to why we need religion is for the fellowship. Only, as Christians, we also have an intimate fellowship with God Himself. Which is pretty darn cool.

To build the temple, over 1,000 years ago, the women of the community gave their hair to make strong rope that would be used in the pulley systems (and in other ways) to bring the giant framework together.

An outside shot of the building which was positively coated in carvings of sunflowers etc. Here you can see the many levels and how the end of each roof beam has a small design in it as well.


After that we tripped off to the Emperor's castle grounds. The actual Royal Famliy's home is in Tokyo, but Kyoto is a famous second home and there's sometimes a competitive feel between Tokyo and Kyoto since both have reasons to be "The most important place in Japan." It was raining on and off all day. In many of our pictures it's raining and sunny at the same time. In this area, the plum blossoms were still there in full color, so the cherry trees were just bursting into full bloom and the plum trees were still hanging on. I was really happy to get to see more plum blossoms, since they are my favorite.

A picture of the plum trees (cherry blossoms are in the background I believe too).

The actual walkway was (usually is in many places) quite wide and made of tiny-stone-gravel. It was like walking on giant grains of sand, so we frequently kept to the garden grass. To the left is the fenced in castle (can't see it when your there) and in the back is a hill. Kyoto is surrounded by such hills.


At night we met up at the hostel. Then Stacey, Jeremy and Ryan took off for one of the most ancient eating areas in Kyoto, Pontocho Alley.


Pontocho also is famous for one of the oldest "Gay Districts." We passed by it one night in October (when we toured Kyoto with Brandon) and there was a young man wearing shiny black leather: teeny hot pants, boots, choker, vest and cap; looking very nervous as he jingled with chains and zippers and handing out advertisements for whatever establishment he was working for. He really looked so nervous that Ryan, as he passed by, commented to him "にあいます”　which means "(your outfit) suits (you)" because he thought it would make the poor guy feel better...

Installment 5: The Longest Day

NOTE:

Temples are buddhist and generally have images of, you guessed it, Buddha.

Shrines, however, are Shinto in religion. Shinto is the original Japanese religion based on nature gods and such.

Most Japanese celebrate holidays and ceremonies of both religions. For example, many families belong to a specific Buddhist sect and celebrate the Buddhism-related tradition of tolling the temple bell 108 times on New Year's Eve. However, it is also common to have a Shinto wedding ceremony when you get married.

Actually, nowdays, Western-style Christian (Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran, you name it) are held after the Shinto-style wedding. More on that another day.


Our second day was the longest. We took the train from Kyoto to go to Byodoin. It's a lovely temple with a museum hidden in the back of the grounds.

The phoenixes on the very top left and right edges of the temple roof are famous.


A Weeping Cherry tree in almost full bloom.


The Side View of Byodoin.



Our next stop was Nara we took the train there; a nap too.


In Nara,Deer were everywhere! I thought "deer park" would be like a petting zoo, but in reality it's deer all over an entire gigantic area full of pagodas, famous temples and many other sites. It's more like a "deer town." I loved them. If I was homeless, I'd stay there and live with the deer. Ryan let me buy some Yaki Imo (a fire-baked sweet potato) to feed myself and the deer.


Unfortunately I chose some young deer since they looked cute, it turned out they were a bit...petulant.
In the video that wierd girl wearing her husband's jacket is tyring to escape by walking away slowly because running away might get them all excited and trample her. She also starts telling the deer "No, I'm hungry, I'm hungry," in a fruitless effort to appeal to them that maybe she likes Yaki Imo too and they should just be happy she shared with them in the first place...*click the play button to play!*



Then we saw Todaiji Temple it's one of the largest wooden structures in the world and houses Japan's largest Buddha made of bronze. So this IS the biggest one made of bronze...the Kamakura one is the largest OUTDOOR buddha made of bronze.

Todaiji and Stacey and Jeremy


The Big Bronze Buddha



We then hiked on to Kasuga Shrine. There are over 3,000 lanterns (most are made of stone) and they're lit only twice each year. We got followed by more deer that had the munchies. I couldn't help it, I just loved them! They were so big eyed, silent and sniffely.

Stacey and Jeremy and a lot of stone lanterns.



We returned to the hostel only to decide at around 8pm to hike the famous Fushimi Inari Tori (gate)Trail. Fushimi Inari is a shrine to the fox god named Inari. This was also in that movie (Memoirs...). The trail goes up a tall hill and in a circular path and almost all of it is lined by these vermillion gates which are a part of all Shinto Shrines. Every 10th gate was had a lantern hanging from it.



After our little night hike, we stopped at Maruyama Koen (Koen is Park) at around 11:30pm to see the famous, very old, cherry tree. In this image it's not yet in full bloom.

Installment 4: Kyoto Day 1

I didn't know I could be so small. All night on the bus I sat with my knees scrunched up next to my chest, all of me within the bubble of my own (smaller than an airplane seat) bus seat.

...Poor Ryan isn't as teeny as his wife and didn't sleep so comfortably since the chairs don't lean back so far.
So we spent the early morning (from 6am to 9:30am) getting cleaned up at the train station, which was very crowded with women and make up and toothbrushes that time of day, and sitting at Starbuck's.

When Stacey and Jeremy arrived at Kyoto Station we took the JR train line a few stops outside Kyoto station to the stop where it met up with the Sagano Romantic Train line, which gives a slow (and charmingly noisy) view of a winding river.

The walk from JR station to the Sagano Romantic Train Line station. Fresh air and open spac feels crazily free after the cramped bus ride.


The train is a steam engine with wooden seats. It actually stops on some of the bridges over the water so everyone can take pictures. There are tons of tunnels as we follow the river and cut through the hills and the noise is atrocious yet fun.


We get off at the stop for the Bamboo Forest (a site in the recenttly made Memoirs of a Geisha movie) for a nice walk. My favorite part is the 4 or 5 leaning and twisting trees that snake up through the bamboo. They give such perfect contrast for how oddly straight and tall bamboo trees are. As we walked through the bamboo there was a sudden downpour and we ran to buy some umbrellas. Ryan's famous policy of "Of course it didn't rain honey, I brought my umbrella" worked out famously since as soon as we opened our umbrellas the sun came out blazing, both holsters empty. Seriously, if Ryan does drag his umbrella around with him on a rainy day it is doubtless that the day will clear up quickly. Otherwise, rainy days in Chiba usually last for 40 hours...go figure.



This is a famous bridge in the fall. I've seen many pictures of it looking like it's on fire during the last days before winter. Unfortunately, this isn't one of those pictures, but Ryan did a good job taking it don't you think?



We walked to Koryuji, famous for "the most beautiful statue of the buddha." It was kinda cool looking, basically much different from many Japanase images of buddha that we have seen, but we don't have any pictures since there were white-gloved men in the viewing room, making sure we didn't take any. You could just google it...or click here The mossy grounds were nice though too.


We then found some decent food in a coffee shop where one teeny little lady was working by herself. Then we pretty much went to our hostel and passed out.

Installment 3: Tokyo

This is a short one, in 2 days I'll post our first day in Kyoto.

We went to Harajuku, a famous fashion center (for those that don't listen to Gwen Stefani) that same Saturday, after finishing our tour of Kamakura. This is the place where girls (and boys) wear goth clothes that look like maid outfits and twisted Alice in Wonderland outfits. This pic is from our visit there with Stacey and Jeremy.


These below are from our visit there in early January, with Abigail.




Sunday we went for a long walk to Konakaike Park. The story is, Konnakaike sounds like "Kakariko" from the SNES Legend of Zelda. If you leave KAKARIKO (konakaike park), and go through the FOREST (Showa no Mori) you end up at THE LEGENDARY/MASTER SWORD park (pictured in "Hello"). I thought I should share that strange coincidence. Also, the triforce is all over in Japan, it's a common family symbol.

Monday we went to Tokyo again! We visited the before-pictured (view archives) Asahi s*** building and Asakusa Shrine. Then we went to Ueno where EVERYBODY had off work since the cherry blossoms were in bloom.


Stacey and Jeremy dropped their things off at the youth hostel and then we went "shopping" ha ha, at Tokyo Ginza (literally: Gold District), where tin foil costs $50, just because of the "Ginza" wrapping. Of course, Ryan had to show Stacey and Jeremy one of his favorite structures which is a block or so away from Ginza. It's famous for looking (being?) like the hull of a massive ship. He is also drinking out of a baby coconut which he was extremely exited about and somewhat dissappointed that we didn't have room in our luggage (or apartment, really) to keep it.



After that, we parted ways. Not Ryan and I, but Ryan and I parted ways with Stacey and Jeremy who went to sleep at the youth hostel while Ryan and I had a looooooong overnight bus ride to Kyoto. Our partners took the bullet train in the morning and we met the next morning (Tuesday) a Starbucks near the JR Kyoto station.

Installment 2: Kamakura Hiking

So on Friday, Stacey and Jeremy and I (Ryan was working) went to Makurahi (a short train ride away) and had tea in a small garden. Normally when we have tea, the serving lady (usually just one person working) doesn't speak much since we're foreigners. But this time a different woman served us tea and, upon discovering I understood some of what she said, proceded to explain the bowls and meanings of the flowers painted on them as well as the tea and the sweet that goes with it (all spring themed this time of year). We were even priviledged to step outside the tea house and onto the lawn (no one is technically allowed out there) and Jeremy took a picture of Stacey and I and our new friend. Unfortunately, I forgot our digital camera >_< Those crazy Sparks have the picture on their SLR Camera.



Saturday we took the train 2 hours to Kamakura. The we got on a local line which is famous for it's intimate trail through neighborhoods (it's almost possible to touch the houses through the windows on either side of the train). Ryan couldn't help taking a pictures of some really happy and cute little kids.













On the way to the Great Buddah (the biggest bronze one in Japan) we stopped to have some purple potato ice cream and koroke (like a big has brown). I like the face that Stacey's making after she's tried Jeremy's ice cream.


















Then we walked into the area that hold the Great Buddah, in the top left you can see some leftover plum blossoms, the fading of which represents the arrival of sakura (cherry blossom) season.













Then we hiked the trail from the Great Buddah.


And stopped at Tokeji Temple. It's famous for being the first all-women temple. It's considered to be one of the oldest battered wives sanctuaries in the world. If a woman was running from her home at night, she could throw one shoe over the gate of the temple complex before she was caught, she was recognized as being under sanctuary of the temple. It's mostly famous now for it's gardens. The Sakura were blooming almost fully one some of these trees.



Next is of Ryan's favorites: Engakuji. It's a very large complex with a huge gate and a steep hill to climb with an open air tea cafe and a view of the hillside at the top. The train tracks actually cross through the temple grounds, the previous entrance was probably where Ryan was standing as he took the picture to the left. Now it's been moved to the other side of the tracks.



This is a gate at Engakuji which we love for the beautiful carvings.


A close up of one of the panels on the gate. Ryan had posted this same image a few months ago on his blog as well.



We stopped at En'noji to see "the scariest demon in Kamakura;" I can't help but always feel they're kinda cute and funny looking.


Our walk is almost finished as we got to the freshly painted Hachimangu shrine. Ryan got this charming shot of the guard looking away. We just really like the expression on his face.




After that we ate and rode the train to Harajuku. I will write about our time there tomorrowish ^_^.

Hello (Installment 1 of Many)

We said good bye to Stacey and Jeremy yesterday. It's funny, I don't know if people think I'm much of a crier (outside my family), but I'm a huge crier. So anyway, I cried~I'm being cheesy (and honest) but what better way to tell them how much fun it was to have them here? Plus, it was good that I cried, Ryan keeps me so happy that my tear ducts needed the exercise.

I'll be updating every few days with a few pictures. Ryan went camera crazy, so there aren't too many pictures of him. ._.

Anyway, they arrived on a Wednesday and on Tuesday we took them through our "daily life" sites.

We went to Showa no Mori where Jeremy made friends with Japan playground equipment (since we can't have this kind of stuff in the U.S.), and taste tested/became intimately aquainted with some of our local bamboo.



The we went to the park across the street from Show no Mori~we don't know the name of it, but we call it "The Legend of Zelda Park" since it has the same feel as the place in the SNES version in which Link finally gets the Master Sword.



After that was PuriKura (short for Purinto Caraa=Print Color) or Photobooth. They've gotten pretty high tech and we mutilated/photoshopped (that's how high tech their regular photobooths are) all our cute pictures into a fun mess.


Then we had Tako Yaki (tako=octopus yaki=fried) it's a piece of octopus leg set into gooey fried pancake-like batter covered in Japan BBQ, Mayo and seaweed sprinkles~YUM! It's super hot though.



And that was the end of the first day. Coming Next: Kamakura hiking.