Kansai Trip

So, this is more than slightly overdue but better than when I went to Kamakura, I think.

We took a crapload of pictures between us; the rest are here and these are Justin's pictures. There is more writing about each picture on Photobucket so I would suggest reading that first and then this entry.

It's the middle of summer vacation and I've gotten to do some traveling so I'm happy. :D Justin and I went to the Kansai area of Japan for 5 days. Kansai is the Western region of Japan while Kantou is the East, where Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa are. We went spend a day in Kobe, and two in each Kyoto and Osaka.

I've learned that you need to get your planning done fast and get your arrangements sorted at this time of year because it's chaos! I'm a paranoid traveller and I want to know when/where I'm going well in advance and give myself lots of time to account for and avoid getting lost but I ended up leaving things until about two weeks before our planned departure. Originally, I had thought to take the night train both ways using the Seishun 18 Ticket again but couldn't get reserved seats on the nights I wanted to go because it's peak travel season. I forgot that not only is it summer for all kids in Japan, but also for most of the rest of the world. In the end, I decided we should just shell out and take the Shinkansen to Osaka. It would only take 3 hours in the morning (as opposed to 8 hours overnight) and we could go earlier and therefore get more days in Kansai. Then I could also say that I rode the Shinkansen and check that off my list. And for 15,000 yen one way, I'll only be doing it once!

We arrived at Shin-Osaka station at 11am, August 2nd and my friend Yuka met us there. She was an exchange student in 2005-2006 at UBC and was my next-door neighbour in the dormitory. She's going to grad school in Osaka and lives with her parents, and was kind enough to let us crash with them (and feed us and tour us around!). We left our bags in a locker at Osaka station and then took the train to Kobe. We wandered around the Chinatown there and had lunch before exploring the port area. We went to Kobe to see fireworks that night that were supposed to be some of the best in the area. Kobe is a nice city -- a lot of the buildings and roads are new after the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake. We didn't get to see any memorials because it was so hot and we didn't have enough time but we took a 45 minute ferry cruise around the marina and got to see the city view from the ocean. It was pretty incredible! The fireworks were kind of blah... I've seen a lot better. They were choreographed to music but they stopped every 5 or 10 minutes and the announcer gave some kind of commentary. It was nothing like the Symphony of Fire in Vancouver.

The second day, Yuka and her boyfriend took us around Kyoto. We met up and walked through Gion and stopped at Kennin-ji, a temple that happens to be the oldest (or one of) Zen temple in Japan. It was so peaceful and calm... I learned about Zen in school and the transmission of Buddhism from China to Japan and all that but it was so interesting to be in a place like that that could claim to be the one of the found Zen schools in Japan. There were lots of people sitting and resting and taking in the atmosphere of the place. It's one of the temples that you can sit in on a meditation session but we weren't there at the right time. I think that's thing I would like to do before I leave Japan.

After that we walked towards the Kiyomizu area of Kyoto and climbed the hill to Kiyomizu-dera. The street was narrow and lined with machiya, old townhouses that were shops on the groundfloor with residences above. There were all kinds of shops selling Kyoto souveniers: paper fans (senso), sweets (yatsuhashi), pottery (tea cups and tea ceremony tools), textiles, and your typical cheap "I heart Kyoto" gear with a picture of a samurai. There were cafes and coffee shops selling matcha ice cream which was such a treat in the heat of the day. You could go into the yatsuhashi shops and taste all the different flavours! Yatsuhashi is called a "cracker" in English, but it's not really. One type is baked -- it's a strip of pastry made with rice flour, sugar and cinnamon and baked on an iron grill under wood blocks, and then shaped with bamboo. Another kind is fresh -- the pastry is filled with red bean paste traditionally, but you can get all kinds of flavours: chocolate, matcha, mango, strawberry, sesame, green apple. The only thing is the fresh ones are only good for about a week.

We stopped at the only restaurant around when we reached the top of the hill before going to the temple: a little soba shop. We really got a feel for the depth of the townhouses because we walked down a stone hallway for about 12 feet before we even got to the front door of the restaurant! Apparently in the olden days, owners would be taxed on the width of their property only, so they insides were as deep as they could go. This little restaurant was an open air restuarant on the back of the hill. We were hoping for some air con but the trees were really shady and there was a little stream running through. The ladies of the shop were super nice, altough I wish they had just left the tea pot with us because we kept asking for more every 10 minutes! And the soba was delicious.

After refeuling, we went to Kiyomizu-dera. One of the oldest (although I think they all say that) temples in Kyoto. I can't remember which sect of Buddhism it was, but their claim to fame is a waterfall that is supposed to bring you luck and love. There was a big pretty red gate but the temple itself it's very flashy. The best thing is the view of the city from the balcony. There was also a staff or sword... Justin said it was like "sword in the stone" and there was a bunch of peopel trying to pull it out. But it's more likely that it was the Buddha's staff because his footprints were on a rock nearby. It was also a top spot for suicide because the balcony juts out off the side of the mountain. There was also a few shrines on the grounds -- as typical of Japanese Buddhism -- to the god of love and marriage that was thronging with couples.

Afterwards we were going to go to Yasaka Shrine afterwards, but I had seen the Heian Shrine on a map somewhere and I knew that name from school so we went there instead. We had to take a bus to get there... and it was a big disappointment. There was a huge gate and a huge courtyard -- they sponsor the Jidai Matsuri (Festival of the Ages) every year but you can't go into or even see much of the actual shrine itself. I thought it was older (it was only built in the late 1890's) and more related to the Heian period (794-1185CE) but it wasn't. I wish we had gone tothe Yasaka shrine instead, it's not the biggest but its of the major shrines and sponsors the Gion Matsuri every year. But I didn't know... I really want to see the Gion Matsuri, one of the three biggest festivals in Japan, so it just means I need to go back. After that, we made it back to Gion and then headed home. We were walking alone the main street and -- I had only hoped we would be able to see one while we were there -- we saw a geiko! I feel all tingly and excited just remembering it. She was walking in front of us, talking with someone and I only recognized her as one from the red fabric in her hair. I should have run up and asked her for a photo, I'm sure they get that all the time, but I didn't feelcomfortable about that. I saw her and I remember and that's all that matters. We left Kyoto and said goodbyeto Hiroki and then met Yuka's parents for yakiniku dinner.

The next day, Yuka had to go to school so Yuka's mom drove Justin and I to Kyoto. She had to pick up her mom and drive her back to her house in Kyoto and then do an errand for her dad so she dropped us off at Kinkaku-ji and met up with us after. Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavillion, is one of the icons of Kyoto. There's another, the Silver Pavillion, that we didn't see but it's only wood and not even finished with silver leaf. It was a bit cloudy and overcast but the building still reflected prettily off the Mirror Pond. We didn't take very long walking through the grounds because we didn't have anyone explaining anything to us and we were trying to stay ahead of the Chinese tour group that was there at the same time. Justin went there before in the winter and said it was much nicer this time. After Kinkaku-ji, the three of us went to lunch and waited for Yuka to be done at school. She went to Ritsumeikan, in Kyoto, but her grad school is in Osaka. When she was done, we met her in Arashiyama, on the western side of Kyoto. Yuka's mom said she always brings guests to Arashiyama because it's not such a popular -- and therefore crowded -- area. It's definitely more rural but very lovely and reminded me a lot of Vancouver. She planned for us to go on a sight-seeing train that travels through the mountains and we got to take in the amazing views of the river and mountains.

When we got to the end of the line, we were out in the middle of the country. We had bought return tickets so we just got off to look around while waiting for the train to leave again. The train was nice and cool with the windows open through the mountains but the station was like a sauna... and that's when the fun began. We all got off but Yuka and Justin went their own way. Yuka's mom was asking one of the staff where we should sit when I saw Justin in the station faint! I was looking right at him as he collapsed and hit is face on the glass window and fall. Yuka was with him but she couldn't catch him at all. It was really scary because I didn't know what to do or what was wrong but the people in the station were so helpful. One lady was making him drink while this guy told us to get him on the bench lying down and someone else brought ice. Some kid even bought a sports drink for him. The train left without us but it didn't matter. He was alright -- just head exhaustion, not heat stroke thankfully. We rested in the air-conditioned waiting room at the station there for about 30 minutes before getting a cab to the JR station and heading back to Arashiyama.

That night we went to a ... bird show, for lack of a better description. Yuka's mom brings a lot of people to this event because it's really unique. It's actually called an "Ukai show", a cormorant fishing show. I don't have any pictures because my camera sucks at night shots but Justin took some. It was really special because this year was the 1000th anniversary of this fishing practice, so they recreated one of the imperial boats that were used at the time, and the fishermen wore traditional garb. They only fish at night so they have fires in iron cages hanging off the boats over the water and the cormorants on leashes in the water. One guy keeps a hold on the birds while another one or two punts the boat and watches if they catch anything. When one of the birds catch a fish, they yank the thing up on deck and then take the fish out of its mouth and then toss it back in the water. It sounds (and looks) a bit cruel but the birds just jump back in and flop around like nothing happened. It was really interesting and I wish I had been able to get some pictures.

The next day, Yuka, Justin and I went to Osaka and did some touring. We went to Shinsaibashi, the shopping area and Dotonbori, the food area. Justin had a few things on his list that he wanted to see -- namely the Glico running man, and the big pufferfish lantern sign. Shinsaibashi was interesting but it's just a long arcade with all the same shops and things we can get in Kantou. Dotonbori was freaking cool though. Most images of Osaka come from there because there are just so many fantastic and outrageous signs! I got to see the restaurant with "Taro", a clown mascot for this eight story restaurant, that was in the news recently because they closed down and it was a bit to-do about who was going to buy this landmark clown. We ate okonomiyaki and modanyaki overlooking Ebisu bridge - the biggest pick-up spot in Osaka.

We had planned to go on the largest ferris wheel in the world, which was out near the aquarium that night but there was a freak thunderstorm that was just pouring down sheets of rain so we passed. We went to a nice Hawaiian restaurant next to Osaka station with a 34th story view instead.

The last day, Justin and I went around Osaka alone because Yuka had a test for an internship. We went to the Umeda Sky Building and Osaka Castle before meeting up with Yuka for dinner. The Sky Building was really cool. You pay 700 yen to get up there but you get a 360 degree view of the city, as well as a rooftop view. You can go out on top of the building and check out the city. It was another blistering day but the wind on the roof was... not cooling in the least. It just got the air moving but wasn't really that pleasant. We found the castle station with no problems but the walk from the station to the actually castle was a bitch. I thought I was going to get heat exhaustion and made Justin stop lots on the walk there. The outside of it was a lot nicer than Nagoya Castle but it's a museum inside. It's been bombed and rebuilt so many times. The museum retells the history of the castle but is so repetative with the live of the shogun who headed the army... I can't even remember which freaking Tokugawa it was now. It doesn't help that there were about 13 of them in total.

There was another freaking storm that night so we left Osaka an hour earlier than planned because I was paranoid about the trains being delayed again and we had to catch our night train from Ogaki at 11pm. We made it through Kansai to Ogaki (which doesn't even have a McDonald's!) and arrived in Tokyo at 5am the next day.

God that was long.  Jenna's here.  My butt hurts on this chair.  I permed my hair today.  Pics to come!