Kyoto and Osaka, Spring Break Trip

It's Kansai time!!

Kansai is the western area of Japan. Whereas Tokyo is in Kanto, Osaka (which is the third biggest city in Japan) and Kyoto are in Kansai. Kansai is known to have more laid-back people, and a lot of comedians come from Osaka. Anyway, when I went, I had a blast! I really loved the feel and atmosphere of the Kansai region, although I didn't meet too many Kansai people so I can't say what my impression is of them. Anyway, on with the tour!!


First of all, I went with my friend Ayana, who is super cool and fun to travel with. Which is good because travel we did--we decided to go cheaply using the Seishun 18 ticket, which is ride-all-you-want regular trains for 2300 yen a day. A total deal! We totally saved like 4000 yen. However, the trip from Mishima to Kyoto took us a good seven hours. Yeah. I might as well have flown to India or something. But it was alright. We slept most of the time. xD

Anyway, so yeah, our first stop was Kyoto! We arrived in the evening, and our timing was bad so we had literally just missed the light-up events they had been holding. But it's okay, we went to Kyoto's biggest shopping district, Shijo-dori. But first, we arrived starving so we stopped for some dinner! Iordered zaru soba, which is cold soba noodles that you dip into sauce. :)

Shijo-dori

It was kind of fun to walk through because we found little shrines and temples along the way. We were like, "This is so like Kyoto!" because Kyoto is the traditional capital of Japan. :)

Like this one on the left! which was a shrine for a famous female writer...if I remember correctly. lol. Or maybe that was the one on the right...can't remember lol.

Food time!

Black soybean tea. It was...interesting. Also, a "hawaiin" ice cream cone. Yummmyyy~

Ryo-anji (Temple of the Peaceful Dragon)

Ryoanji is a Zen Buddhist temple built around 1400 CE. It was originally purely an estate belonging to the Fujiwara clan (which slowly became the ruling clan during the Heian period of 794-1185), and later, after the Onin war of 1467-1477, its owner decided that since it had been a site of many battles it should become a Zen Buddhist temple after his death. Among its features are seven tombs of past emperors, ancient wooden paintings on sliding doors, and the temple's famous zen rock garden. No one knows what the placement of the rocks in this garden is supposed to signify; it is written that each individual must discover it for his or herself.

After that...we went to lunch! It was a pretty expensive buffet, but hey, it was delicious traditional style Japanese food, and I ate my fill. :F

Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavillion)


Kinkakuji is another Zen Buddhist temple, and was founded in 1397, when the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu purchased the estate from its previous owners and redesigned it; then after he died, his son converted the building into a Zen temple per his father's wishes. Apparently the other buildings around it where destroyed in war, and unfortunately, in 1950 a monk, in his attempt to commit suicide, also burnt down the original golden pavillion. The current one standing was rebuilt in 1955, apparently exactly according to the original design, and also has been repainted gold several times. Nevertheless, the garden is beautiful and it's a stunning sight for all to see.

Ninnaji (Temple of Benevolence and Peace)

Ninnaji is a much older temple, built in 888. It is a temple of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, which was widely influential during its time. It had a tradition of having head priests of imperial lineage, as often Emperors would send sons to become the head of the temple when the position opened up, but this ended in the Edo period, until the late 1800s. It was burned to the grown in 1467 during that same Onin War, and then rebuilt 150 years later; however most of the current buildings were built in the 1600s. It's probably most famous for its 5-story pagoda, which was also built in the 1600s.

Tenmangu

Tenmangu is a shrine built in 947 to honor the angry spririt of Sugawara no Michizane, a bureaucrat and scholar who had been exiled by the clan-in-power of the time, the Fujiwara, for political reasons. It was officially dedicated to Michizane in 986. These days it is a shrine where students often go to pray for success in school and on exams, as the original man, now a deity, was well known scholar of literature. Students go up to the statues of the cows and pray for academic success while rubbing them, as if petting the cow itself. It's also apparently filled with plum blossom trees, because that was Michizane's favorite flower. Unfortunately when we were there, we were just before the full bloom of the trees, so you only get to see this kind of lame half-bloom. =P

Following Tenmangu, my Japanese friends thought they wanted to eat something sweet, so we stopped by this delicious tofu-themed cafe, where everything is made with soymilk. It was soo good! I ordered a waffle with green tea ice cream, anmitsu (red bean jam), and kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup). Oh my gosh, it was delicious. Ayana ordered a green tea parfait that also looked super delicious!

Afterwards we wanted to head over to Nijo Castle, but unfortunately it was closed just as we got there, because it was 4:30 or something and for some reason it closes early. xD So if you go to Kyoto and want to go to Nijo Castle make sure you get there early. xD So Ayana and I retired for the day, assuming most things would be closed. It was especially cold that day and her brother's heater didn't work, so we borrowed his kotatsu (table with a blanket and an electric heater underneath). It was my first kotatsu experience! Soooo warm and comfy. I could stay like that forever, haha.

(You can't see much of the kotatsu but here we are...hahaha)

Fushimi Inari Taisha

Fushimi Inari-Taisha is a shrine that is probably most famous for appearing in the movie Memoires of a Geisha. But that aside, it's a shrine dedicated to Inari, the god of fertility, agriculture, and foxes (which is why there are so many fox statues everywhere). It was founded in 711, but became famous in 965, when Emperor Murakami decided that imperial messengers should be sent to report on events in Japan to the major deities, and Fushimi Inari was one of the fifteen shrines chosen. Nowadays it is know as having been one of the top government supported shrines. Since Inari is also seen as the patron of business, many businesses have donated a red Torii (the many gates you will see in the following pictures) to the shrine, and there are probably thousands of them that line the pathway up the mountain, which leads to many other smaller subshrines within the greater grounds. It's a lot to walk, so if you go, and you should, I recommend you take a good amount of time for it, and also wear comfy shoes and bring water with you, hahaha, cuz a lot of it us up hill! But still, Fushimi Inari was my favorite place in Kyoto. Really beautiful!

This is kind of magical. They say if you make a wish, and then pick up one of the stone balls on the top of the statue and it feels light, then your wish will come true.

This greatly damaged torii was donated by Iwaki city, which was greatly damaged by the recent earthquake. Ayana and I were kind of dumbfounded that it alone was so damaged, but of course we weren't sure when it had been damaged, so we couldn't know if it was so mystical powers at work.

Kiyomizu-deru (Clear Water Temple)

Kiyomizu-deru is probably, along with Kinkakuji, the most famous sight in Kyoto. It was originally designated a temple in 798, but it's current buildings were built in 1633. The buildings are apparently built completely without nails, which is kind of amazing, I think. The name comes from the waterfall that flows down the nearby hills. There is a saying in Japanese that is "to jump of the stage at Kiyomizu", which basically means to take the plunge, to make a decisive decision, which comes from the Edo period practice that if one jumped off of the stage and survived the 13 meter drop, one's dreams would come true. It's of course a banned practice now, lol. Anyway, the temple was a major Buddhist pilgrimage stop, so it's a pretty famous old temple. Nearby there's this really neat old-fashioned Japanese-style street that is completely packed with souvenir shops and restauarants. Sometimes you can see women dressed in kimono just for fun. :)

A love shrine. :) But I got a bad love fortune. D; But anyway, the rock above has a partner some 20 feet away. It's said if you can walk straight between them with your eyes closed your love will come true. :)

View of Kyoto city from the temple.


The waterfall-turned-into-fountains, divided into three channels which you can catch and drink. They are said to improve wisdom, health, and longevity.

Then we had lunch right nearby! I had a crab and egg rice bowl. It was goooood. :F

After that, we had originally had plans to run off to Nara for a bit and see the giant Buddha statue, but we spent too much time at Kiyomizudera and Fushimi-Inari, so we just headed off to Osaka, our second destination! We checked into our SUPER CHEAP (1200 yen per night) business hotel, and then we went out to explore a little bit of Osaka. :)

Dotonbori

Dotonburi is the major tourist area of Osaka--it's got tons of shopping, all the famous things Osaka is noted for, plus delicious restuarants for okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes but not) and takoyaki (fried balls of batter with octopus), for which Osaka is particularly famous. I really, really liked the feel of this street, and the people, including restaurant and stall staff, were really fun people. I definitely recommend it. :)

Apparently Osaka is famous for these giant crab signs, lol. And also this giant Glico add. There's another one that talks when you walk past it. Scared the life out of me, lol.

Okonomiyaki for dinner!! This is was called something like MEGA SUPER AWESOME OKONOMIYAKI. Okay that's not it exactly but it was all of those things, plus DELICIOUS and HUGE. I will never be able to enjoy okonomiyaki ever again. We also ordered some little tiny ones; green onion, cheese, shrimp, kimchee, and mentaiko (a type of fish that's spiced with red pepper and salt). SOOOO GOOOOOD. Ayana and I went home happy.


A pro takoyaki maker doing his thing. :)

Afterwards we went back to our teensy weensy hotel room and crashed. We'd had a long day, and we would have an early morning, heading to Osaka Castle and then back to Mishima!

Osaka-jo (Osaka Castle)

A castle built in 1583 originally by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, complete in 1597, but only after Hideyoshi died. It was destroyed in battle in 1615 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had established his shogunate in Edo at the time. The following heir to the Tokugawa shogunate rebuilt the castle in 1620, and the walls that were built at this time still stand today. Apparently those walls are made with no mortar and they stick together only because of their shapes. In the 1660s the castle was burned down in accidents, and then the mid-19th century it was restored again. However, it was once again mostly destroyed in 1868 during the civil conflicts following the Meiji Restoration. It was rebuilt again in 1928, damaged in World War II, and then finally completely rebuilt to match the original in 1997. It has a pretty long history. But it's a really beautiful and famous castle. I'm not sure if you can go in or not; Ayana and I only had time to walk up to it and then leave. But even from the outside it's a spectatular view, and it's located in a huge park that includes a convention hall (I think) and multiple gardens. When we went there was a graduation ceremony being held, so we saw many college students in suits (for men) and kimono (for women).

Well....that's the end of the trip! We left Osaka fairly early...maybe at about 10. We took a wrong train back....so it took us an extra hour and half to get home, totaling our trip home to about 9 hours. It was a long, long, long trip home, and when we arrived at Mishima we were so happy that we wanted to just kiss the ground. We didn't of course, becuase, ew. But we were happy.

Next post, spring in Japan! Expect many pictures of blooming sakura (cherry-blossom) trees!