Inari Jinja

My favorite place in Kyoto by far was the Inari Jinja with the 1000 torii gates. It had the same feeling as the Meiji Shrine: just very peaceful and nanka magical. (that's right. taking the japanglish to a whole new level now.^^)

First you have to take a smaller train a little bit outside of the more bustling Kyoto center. It doesn't take all that long, but when you step off the train, you definitely feel like all the sudden you've been transported to a small suburb on Shikoku or something. OK it's not that bad, but it really does have a nice, quiet feel to the area not found so much in the only places I had been in Japan thus far: Tokyo and Kyoto.

Even the parking lot is gorgeous.

You know what's really cool/spooky about the next picture? I didn't realize it until I got back to the U.S. and was flipping through all my albums, but it just so happens that both my name and my sister's name are written on the torii gates!! My name is Hiroko (ひろ子) and my sister's name is Katsumi (勝見). It's like "Where's Waldo" or something....can you find them? You get a gold sticker if you do!

I went really early in the morning, so there weren't all that many people around, but I did run into a group of elementary school children with their little matching yellow hats!! So cute!!!

(Also, yea, I can't believe I got up early in the morning either, but it's really worth it. This place + people = not as good. like, at all. It was more crowed on my way back down. Plus, when the older people show up and run up the mountain that took you 3 hours to climb in 20 min, you feel really awful. Better to just avoid them....)

Although, it is nice if there is someone there so that you can have your picture taken, like so:

These pictures were simply glorious. I love how the photographer played with the light. She really captured the true essence of the place. I wonder who it is..... xp

I really don't have much to say here because I think the photos speak more poetically than I ever could about the Inari Shrine. Definitely going back here soon.

Kyoto: Day 1

So day 1 of Kyoto actually includes my last post. I woke up really early to catch the 3 hour Shinkansen ride into Shin-Osaka station and met with my friend at 9:30. Her father is a baker, and gave us some different breads and pastries for us to have for breakfast while we took the local trains into Kyoto. It was the most delicious breakfast I had in Japan, and Japanese bakeries are amazing. I guess her dad was experimenting with a cranberry-tea leaf filled French roll. My friend was actually kind of embarrassed about it, I guess because it's an original and kind of a weird concept, but that turned out to be the best thing I have ever tasted. It was like a little sophisticated celebration in my mouth!

First thing we did when we arrived in Kyoto was dump our stuff in a coin locker and get on a bus to Kiyomizudera. Now, Kiyomizudera, besides being the most spiritual and beautiful place overlooking all of Kyoto, is also one of the few things I remember from my trip to Japan when I was 4. Kiyomizudera was my 4-year-old self's favorite memory of Japan, so when I went there this past summer, it was more than just site-seeing; It was more like returning to childhood, where your outlook on everything is magical. Now add that to the already spiritually radiating Kiyomizudera.

Unfortunately to get to Kiyomizudera, one must climb up this crazy hill, because Kiyomizu is way up in the mountains. It's pretty steep, but there are cute little shops the whole way up, so you can take a break to shop! (Bought my dad a really cool Kiyomizuyaki chawan)

I think it's amazing how the whole temple is just hanging off the side of the mountain, jutting out from all this green.

The picture below is of the water that brings long life. It's so cool to see it streaming down in front of you and it tastes delicious!! I wish they would bottle it and sell it to me here in the US. No I don't, that's a lie, but it's pretty tasty.

Oh! I thought this was hillarious! I guess they were doing some sort of restoration work or something on one of the buildings so it was covered up. But what's really funny is how they painted a picture of the structure on the outside, like we wouldn't notice the difference?



After spiritual enlightenment and drinking longevity water, it is important to chase it down with some tasty yuzu and kintoki flavored shaved ice! tip from the expert for you. ^^

After Kiyomizudera, I checked into my hotel and hit the Gion Matsuri with my friend. The Gion Matsuri is the most famous festival in Kyoto that goes on for the entire month of July every year. It's a huge deal, and I had no idea what it was, had never heard of it, and yet managed to go to Kyoto right in the middle of it, on time to catch the parade (which is only on one day), and booked a room in a hotel located right on the parade route. さすが偶然様だね。That's guuzensama for you...

It was unbelievably crowded and loud and filled with this amazing energy, especially later at night. They had closed down blocks and blocks of the busiest streets in downtown Kyoto and filled it with lines of stalls selling takoyaki, yakitori, karaage, yakisoba, kakigoori, and so much more. There were also games involving catching fish and turtles for prizes. Then, on the corners were these huge carts lit up with lanterns and boys sitting on top ringing a string of bells. (I found out the next day, that these were for the parade.)

The next picture will give you an idea of how many people were there. It was totally worse than Shibuya crossing. You know what's scary, this went on for blocks and blocks not just on this street, but also on the next 3 or 4 cross streets in either direction. Crazy crowded. I took this picture just by standing on my toes and holding the camera way above my head. I'm not standing on anything, so basically I'm just one other person in that sea of people, and it looks exactly the same behind me.

After completely stuffing my face with takoyaki and calpis flavored kakigoori (shaved ice) I said goodbye to my friend, walked back to my hotel room and died of exhaustion.

Kyoto: Day 2

The next day, I woke up early and got a front row spot to view the Gion Matsuri parade. It was huge!!! And really amazing. Some lady ran through the crowd before it started and handed out a flyer telling you what each cart was and what it symbolized, but it was all in Kanji. I got the gist of it though. Some of them were amazingly tall, as tall as the surrounding buildings even.

And it was just as crowded as the night before, if not more so because we were shoved onto the sidewalk instead of having the whole street to spread out. The picture above is of a corner, where they would do a little dance with fans to turn the cart 90 degrees. It was really cool and interesting. I don't know much about Japanese traditional culture, but Kyoto was steeped in it.

After the parade, I decided to explore the area. First I randomly walked around the Gion area (of which the Gion Matsuri is named after). This area was renovated so that it has the old-style architecture of ancient Japan. It was really beautiful and peaceful to walk along the canal here.

Here is just an example of what some of the streets looked like. The stores and restaurants all looked like buildings I had previously only seen in period dramas or something. haha. It was really cool. Especially when I found this tree growing out of the top floor of this building.

Just like Tokyo, I found cats all over the place, but after talking with some friends, I think it's just me. Cat's aren't that common I guess. I just happen to see them everywhere I go. But this one was so cute, and after I pet him, he rolled on his back and stretched out. haha, he was a good guard-cat for the shrine I found right next to him. ^^

This is a place called Yasaka Shrine. I don't know much about it, because I just found it by randomly strolling around, like always, but it was gigantic! It just kept going up and up into the mountains. There was a park, a cemetery, and huge tori gates, and funky old twisty trees.

After Yasaka Shrine (I spent like an hour there just looking around and climbing steps; it's really beautiful), I made my way back through Gion towards downtown Kyoto to do some shopping.

I spent the rest of the day eating dango, searching for the perfect kokeshi doll, and just site-seeing and trying to talk to as much as possible. Kyoto is relaxing.