End of summer is quickly approaching and My teachers are starting to go on vacation. Since school has been so empty, I took this time to travel to Kyoto and Osaka for a week with friends.
Kyoto and Osaka are in the Kansai region which is in the southish part of Japan. Rich in history, I figured they were good places to visit. I spent 4 days in Kyoto, 2 days in Osaka, and side trips to Kobe and Nara.
Kyoto being the former capital of Japan, Kyoto is old nd is filled with shrines, temples. There’s well over 1,000 shrines and temples in Kyoto. Here, you might be able to see geishas walking the streets in Gion or you can try delicious green tea. You can see old Japanese style homes and buildings as well.
On my trip, I visited Fushimi Inari Shrine which was in Memoirs of a Geisha apparently (I’ve never seen the movie), Kiyomizu dera (buddhist temple), Kinkakuji (temple made of gold), and Toei movie park which is the Japan version of Universal Studios. It’s home to the power rangers, and anything that is filmed in Edo period Japan. Since Kyoto situated in the southern part and in a valley, saying it was hot doesn’t even begin to describe how hot it was there. It made Mito feel like an ice box. Nevertheless, we persevered and saw almost everything on the list. Sadly, we didn’t see Geishas and didn’t get to drink good green tea. But, I did experience Kawadoko dining. It’s dining over a river in the mountains. It was a good change of pace compared to the hustle and bustle of Kyoto City. It’s Japanese style dining so you’re sitting on a tatami mat eating Japanese food, listening to the water run down the river, admiring nature. It’s also significantly cooler in this area which felt amazing after being in 90+ degree weather. If you ever go to Kyoto, definitely make this a priority, just make sure you make a reservation ahead of time!
While in Kyoto, we took a 30 minute train ride to Nara. Most of you know this place as the park with the deer you can feed and they bow to you. Here are some fun facts about Nara.
- The deers don’t bow… That video is full of lies!
- DON’T FEED THE DEER.
I really can’t emphasize that enough. You watch other people scream and run away and you might think “Oh, they’re just over reacting” or “That’s an aggressive deer”. Or you might see a kid scream and cry and you could be thinking “he must be sensitive”. No, they’re not over reacting, the kids are not being sensitive (for the most part) and it’s not just one that’s aggressive.. THEY’RE ALL AGGRESSIVE.
However, when they’re not trying to eat your shirt, or your water bottle, or biting your butt, or almost biting your fingers off, or almost hitting you with their antlers, it’s kind of okay. But beware, they poop and pee without warning so if you do go, I advise you to wear closed toe shoes.
Besides the deer, we went to Todai-ji which holds the biggest Buddha in Japan, and I must say, it was a pretty big Buddha. The temple grounds were so beautiful and there was AC (yay!). The street to the temple was filled with street food so of course I had grilled meat and a cucumber (yum!!).
My last day in Kyoto we took a 2 hour drive to the beach. It was so beautiful! Nothing like the beaches in Ibaraki. The sand was soft and we were surrounded by green mountains. There were a bunch of food stands which served Japanese beach food. So fried noodle, squid, snails, and shaved ice! Since there’s not law against drinking in public many people were drinking. But like any other experience in Japan, the beach experience was different from America. Instead of seeing people laying out on towels like in America, group have tents and umbrella set up and tarp to sit on instead of your towel. Some tents were dining tents and they had coolers, benches, and tables set up. Others were just regular beach tents for people to nap in. The tarps are a smart idea though. I may bring that back with me to America next time I go to the beach. AND! There were showers at this beach. They were behind one of the food places. You pay 200 yen for 3 minutes and shampoo and conditioner is supplied. Afterwords you can go to the stalls next door and change into regular clothes. Because walking around in a bathing suit is just weird and not a thing here… ?.
