JIJ Vol. 008 Kyoto Part 2

KYOTO PART 2. IN A NUTSHELL: Catherine, Fushimi Inari, Inari-san, Tofukuji, Kiyotaki, Atago-san, Ryoanji

The following day (September 17, 2005) I went to meet with my old friend Catherine. Catherine actually used to live like 5 minutes away from my house - this would have been the first time in over a year that we have seen each other. We met up at Kyoto Station early in the morning and we had made plans to go on a Hike from my hiking book. We took the train and got off at the Fushimi stop. The hike planned was supposed to be starting off at Fushimi Inari shrine, hiking up Inari-san and then down and ending up at Tofukuji Shrine.

So we made our way up to Fushimi Inari... and that place is just red. Bright red. I'd have to say... before there was the temporary installation of "The Gates" by Christo and Jean Claude in New York Central Park, there was Fushimi Inari. Definately not the same feeling... but the same sort of concept that just made me go WOW. We hiked through Fushimi Inari, heading up and then we started taking some side trails and eventually got lost. Afterwards we ended up on a concrete road and just started walking... we then happen to come by an old man and we asked him in Japanese how to get to Tofukuji. He was really nice and just went on talking in Japanese about how to get there. Between Catherine and I we kind of figured out where we had to go - In addition he too started climbing Inari-san. So the three of us started climbing up the huge steps of Inari-san and then he directed us in the direction we were to go to head towards Tofukuji.

After getting lost a few times, asking a few japanese people how to get to Tofukuji... about three hours later we actually made to Tofukuji temple. If I can say anything about Tofukuji... its two things: 1. I want to see this place in the fall, it really is that beautiful. 2. There arn't too many foreigners at this place, the entire place has a different atmosphere then most other temples that I have visited. It's calm, quiet, and very peaceful. After exploring Tofukuji temple we eventually made our way towards Tofukuji train station. Catherine-san mentioned that Sanjo was a place where a lot of younger adults go to hangout so we decided to take the train and head out there. It was a great decision, we ended up spending the rest of the day wandering around Central Kyoto and shopping at Kawaramachi street. Followed by dinner at a nice Izakaya called Chikyuuya. It was recomended in the Roughs Guide and I thought it was a great decision - the dinner was filling, the drinks were tasty (especially the Sparkling White Peach) and it had a very nice relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Afterwards we took the train home and I made my way back to Tofukuji and spent more time hanging out with other fellow Tojian guests.

Photos of Fushimi Inari:




Photos from Tofukuji:






I thought a 3 hour hike from Fushimi Inari to Tofukuji was not too bad but the hike that Brian and I were about to attempt was NOTHING like it. We met up (September 18, 2005) at Kyoto station and then took the bus to Kiyotaki. The bus ride itself took a little under an hour and we ended up far away from Kyoto. It was rather nice. So the hike commenced, beginning with a walk through Kiyotaki. The hike that we decided to do... was to climb Atago-san. The hike was quite ambitious, but it was tremendously fun - climbing with Brian. At least I had someone to talk to while we climbed nearly 800 meters up. We came across a natural spring and took some water from it. It was very tasty and well I'm not dead so I'm pretty sure it was okay to drink... plus every other Japanese person hanging around it was also drinking from it. We continued to climb and we took our time. It took us about 3 hours to get all the way to the top of Atago san and we spent a lot of time along the way taking a ton of pictures, sitting down to rest, and the sort. The experience was just amazing - climbing all the way up the mountain... a lot of people were cheering us on as they where passing us on their way down. There were times where we stopped to catch a sight of Kyoto in the distance and it was beautiful. Unfortunately my camera was running out of space to take pictures - so I didn't get to much - but that just means I should go back and climb Mt. Atago san another time. Once we finally reached the top, we hung around for a while catching the amazing view of Kyoto and then started on our decent. It took us another 3 hours to get all the way down and then another half hour or so to find our way back to the bus stop. There were a ton of amazing things we came through and it felt like I was really experiencing Japan - there weren't any foreigners and I felt lucky enough that there were signs in english... sort of. But we managed to find our way and catch a bus back to Kyoto.

Photos from Atago-san:






The hike up to Atago-san made me feel like i've acomplished quite a bit - something that most usual tourists in Japan don't do. But the next day (September 19, 2005) Brian, Catherine and I met up. I had a few places left on my 'places to visit' list and we first went to Ginkakuji. We actually spent a lot of time... and I was doing my usual over analysis of EVERYTHING, sketching things down, writing notes... but we took our time which was enjoyable to be in the company of other friends. Following that we wandered down the little street that leads up to Ginkakuji and bought some softcream (it's like ice cream but not) and before we had planned to go to Ryoanji... but before hand I discovered that I was not going to be able to go Saihoji (a temple that requires a reservation) so I told them we could go there, or elsewhere... since I would have an extra day anyway. So instead the three of us decided to go to Kawaramachi street (again) and look for a MOS burger. I swear - if i'm going to miss anything in Japan - MOS burger is definately one of them. I had my usual Mos Cheese burger with OniPota (Onion Rings and Fries), and Melon soda. It was very tasty... following that we went back and went shopping downtown and just wandered around the area and we finished the night off with another return to Chikyuuya. The people at Chiyuuya were surprized to see Cat and I again and then told us that they had an English menu! The previous time we were there... we were reading the kanji/kana and trying to figure out what things there were... *laughs* so we were able to order more assorted types of food and drinks - it was quite delicious. After our night together, we parted again and made plans to meet up sometime in Osaka. I headed back to Tofukuji and passed out quite early into the night.

Photos from Ginkakuji:





Spetember 20, 2005. Originaly I had planned to go to Saihoji - but when my plans fell through (a complicated process of making reservations to go) I decided to go to Ryoanji. I took my time - since I have been fairly exhausted with the amount of hiking, and travelling around. I eventually made my way to Ryoanji. This place... was definately a place that moved me. It just made me feel so at peace and complete... I managed to stay at Ryoanji for over 3 hours just relaxing, meditating, analyzing Ryoanji and just contemplating about life. It noted in the Rough's Guide that the longer you were at Ryoanji staring at rock zen garden - the more you start to think. The tour book was right... the longer I stayed the longer I started looking at things and thinking about the strange relationships. The collection of rocks and their position, the rake lines... everything beyond the contained rock garden and the relationship to it... it was endless. There are 15 rocks at Ryoanji and no matter where you sit... you'd never be able to count all of them. One will always remain hidden... and afterwards I began comparing proportions of rocks to each other and then comparing those to the shape of the trees beyond the walls... and then I finally gave up and just cleared my mind enjoying the calm atmosphere. At one point I started writing all the words that came to mind just sitting and staring at the rocks. My trip at Ryoanji was quite enjoyable. Though the only thing that disturbed me the most would have to be a foreigner who stepped into area which I WOULD NEVER DO... with the way that temples are set up - you can usually tell where you are allowed to stand and where you are allowed not to stand) and this man climbed down the steps and onto the curb and took a side snapshot of the rock arrangements. Even I was completely horrified and disgusted at his actions due to the disrespect he had just caused. In addition he seemed like he was off balance at one point trying to take the picture and if he were to have lost his balance and fall into the rake lines... I think I would be furious. Even having another person tresspass into an area that already has a pesudo barrier set up ruined those few moments for me. What can I say? It reminds me how unreceptive people can be... something that I hope I would never turn into. That was pretty harsh of me to say, but i'm rather sick and tired of foreigners not respecting Japanese culture... you see it everywhere you go. Returning from Ryoanji, I had curry for dinner and returned to Tojian a bit earlier. I wanted to take a bath at the ofuro and pack everything up since I would be leaving to Osaka the next day. I also thought this would be a great opportunity to catch free drinks and enjoy the wonderful time that I've had at my stay at Tojian.

Some photos from Ryoanji:

JIJ Vol. 007: Kyoto

Hey everyone! I finally got a cell phone... if you want my number I will gladly pass it onto you if you ask. If you would like to reach me asap by mail let me know (by email, AIM, etc) and i'll give you my mobile email address and I'll get the email instantly (in which I can reply instantly as well). In other news, I also just got the internet so you'll be hearing from me a lot more often. In the next few days I will be posting about my trip through Kyoto, Osaka, and Takamatsu. I will also be writing about some interesting cultural things and other things of the sort. If you have any questions about anything please send an email to ask.

Jocy in Japan Vol. 007: KYOTO PART 1 IN A NUTSHELL: Tojian, Kinkakuji, Sanjusangendo, Okonomiyaki

I already went to Kyoto for two days earlier in August... but there is so much to do in Kyoto I ended up going back again for another 6 days. I left Nou (Niigata perfecture) for Kyoto taking a local train to Toyama and then the Shinkansen to Kyoto.

I arrived Sept 15 and went to go check in at "Tojian" which is a backpackers kind of place. Lucky enough I discovered this place through my Roughs Guide book. This place is apparently not listed in the Lonely Planet guide. If I could say anything about this... it is definately not regretting this chosen place. I first checked into Tojian and it looks like a really run downed ryokan that could use some maintenance - but I thought that the price I was paying for should be alright. The first night I ended up spending in the girls dormitory for 2000 Yen ($20.00) that night. I ended up spending part of the afternoon around kyoto station and then went to the public bath.

The only downside to staying at Tojian is that... there is no bath/showers. You have to go to a public bath or what they call an 'ofuro.' After having my first onsen (natural hot spring) experience with my friends Taka and Sue (during our trip in Nikko) I really didn't have too much of a problem doing it again. After my trip to the ofuro, I headed over to Kyoto station to meet another foreigner by the name of Brian. We had actually been talking on the internet and he was just looking for another english speaker to hang out with. We met at Kyoto station, had donburi for dinner (rice bowls with some sort of topping - depending on what you ordered), and then just spend the rest of the night wandering about the Kyoto Station area which included a trip to Starbucks (which is insanely expensive!), a trip to the arcade and eventually another trip to a different cafe.

Brian is actually a university student from Texas - he's on an internship program working for a japanese company called Hiyoshi. His studies focuses mainly on Biology (it currently has slipped my mind) and actually we discussed his research work which I found pretty interesting. After hanging out that evening - which had been actually quite a lot of fun he had agreed to my invitation to climb Mt. Atago (san). He then made me agree to dinner the next night and a trip out to where he lives called Oumihachiman.

The following day (Sept 16) I went to Kinkakuji (Golden Palace) and spent my morning there. Kinkaku-ji is all about the palace and basically nothing else. The palace is decoupaged in some sort of gold foil... hence why they call it the golden palace. since the actual building was basically the eye catching focus... people seemed to not really notice anything else. I ended up spending much of the morning analyzing the placement of trees in relation to the palace and documenting anything else that I thought was interesting. What I have noticed about japanese maple trees is that they tend to plant them close to pathways and no where else. It definately has an interesting reaction... I wish I could go back to Kyoto and visit these places again as fall is soon approaching. Following Kinkakuji, I ended up going to Sanjusangendo.

Some Photos of Kinkakuji:




The kanji "Dai" (great) burned into the hillside:



Sanjusangendo is most famous for the 1001 Kannon statues (Buddhist Religion based). All the statues are lined up in a hallway on tiers of 5 or 6. Taken from the Roughs Guide Japan description:

"At first the impassive, haloed figures appear as identical imges of Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, portrayed with eleven heads and a thousand arms. But they all have subtle differences in their faces, clothes, jewellery or the symbols held in their tiny, outstreched hands. Rather than a thousand arms, the statues have been given only forty apice (excluding the two hands in prayer), but each of these can save 25 worlds. In addition, every figure represents 33 incarnations, giving a total of 33,033 Kannon to help save mankind"

The hall way is about 118 metre long and during the samurai era they would hold archery tournaments. There is also a HUGE Kannon figure about halfway along the hallway and it is just amazingly huge. It was quite breath taking. Unfortunately there were no pictures allowed for obvious reasons of losing its originality and popularity.

After the trip to Sanjusangendo - I eventually hopped on the JR Biwako line heading west of Kyoto and off to meet up with Brian again. I got off at Oumihachiman and met with Brian and we went wandering around the HUGE Mall attached to the station in which he then he took me to dinner. We had Okonomiyaki. He insisted that we have Okonomiyaki since I had mentioned that I had not tried it yet.

Okonomiyaki... the best way to describe it is... "Japanese Pizza" It is definately an original japanese dish. The basic contents of Okonomiyaki is flower, egg, cabbage, and usually the special ingredients you want in it (like pieces of meat, cheese, etc). You mix up the batter and then pour the batter onto the cooking table and make it into a pancake. You let it sit until it full cooks, flip it over... and once its done you serve it with Okonmiyaki sauce and kewpie (japanese mayonase). It's rather tasty (well I like it). We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the huge shopping mall in Oumihachiman, shopping, going to the arcade and just hanging out. I caught the last train back from Oumihachiman to Kyoto - and at one point the train was leaving one of the station stops and suddenly stopped - I was momentarily frightened but it started up again and everything was fine.

I returned to Tojian and was able to catch the last bit of the "Everynight there is free beer" night and sat down, had something to drink and talked with the others who were staying at Tojian. I had the chance to talk to a bunch of people from Europe (mainly people from France, and one guy from Germany), and other Japanese people. I ended up meeting a young Japanese boy named Mitani and we actually talked until 2AM talking about all sorts of things. He is an English and International Business major so his English was very good and I was able to talk to him about deeper things in regards to the difference in our culture, and about our own majors. It was actually a lot of fun.

I'll update more tomorrow. Ja mata ashita!

JIJ Vol 006 - Small update - Arrival in Fukuoka.

Just a small post to let everyone know that I am okay - nothing too special. I arrived at Hakata Station in Fukuoka last monday afternoon. I immediately moved into the dormitory and met faculty and students in my studio.

This past week has been basically settling into the dormitory and getting things up and going. I have had to run around town to get paper work done and currently have no internet at my dormitory. So I am postponing my write up about Kyoto, Osaka, and Takamatsu until then. Hopefully I will get the internet some time next week. I have also spent a great deal of this past week helping the two architecture students from Cal Poly move in and make their settlement in Japan a bit easier. Not to be arrogant or anything - but if I had not been around for them... I think things would have been a lot different. But I am so glad to help those guys around. I think by now they have got the hang of how things work in Japan.

This week school started - actually I had school today. Unfortunately classes are in Japanese - but today I was able to understand like the basic concept of what was going on. The thing that is killing me most... is not knowing enough vocabulary and reading Kanji. Thus, I have started teaching myself kanji - learning a few at a time. Hopefully doing about 5 every night will help me study.

Classes that I am taking at school:
- Landscape Architecture with Kanekiyo sensei
- Urban Planning
- Project D (4th year Landscape Architecture + Architecture studio). this class is not till thursday but the premisis of this class sounds interesting. there is a site that has been selected in Fukuoka that has been greatly damaged by a recent earthquake (i think earlier this year - i vaugely remember reading it in the news... right around the same time the huge tsunami in south east asia hit). This site has now become a case study and a wonderful opportunity for Kyushu University students to do their studies and work. It sounds really interesting and I am most intrigued - I cant wait till thursday.
- No credit japanese language class at Chikushi campus.

In addition to classes... I have joined the Namaoto club - which is a wind ensamble here on campus. Practice is on tuesday evenings. I am glad to have found a wind ensamble to practice with. things have been most interesting since I have reached Fukuoka.

So many people have never heard of Fukuoka... let alone Kyushu. Fukuoka is most famous for two things: Potato Sochu (japanese vodka made with potato) and Hakata Ramen. Apparently this Potato Sochu is only available in Kyushu and is only 25% proof. Amazing ne? Hakata ramen is basically ramen with chinese pork slices. In japanese they call this Chyasu pork. In addition to these tasty things - downtown Fukuoka (Tenjin) is most famous for their little food stalls all lined up out on the streets. People have little wood wagons that serve ramen, donburi, oden, and/or yakitori out on the streets - its fairly interesting and they only come out at night.

Fukuoka city is definately a sight of its own - quite different to all the other cities I have been to. It has a more friendly atmosphere and things feel "at home" to me. Other than that - things are slowly settling down. I think things will be okay in a few weeks (like next month). When I recieve internet - I shall post photos and share more about my trip in Japan. Until then please wait until then. Sore ja mata ne!

Also, for those who want this information:

My address is:
Fukuoka-shi, Minami-ku Ijiri 2 chome 36-40-315, 811-1302 Japan

My telephone number is: (no cell phone... not for a few weeks)
092-586-4111-9315
(Dial the first 3 set of numbers, wait till the lady is finished talking, dial the 9315 extention after)