Kyoto @ MindSay 
japan
Summer vacation is almost over and I have to say that I am relieved. Everyday has been kind of dragging on lately and I just want to start getting my plans to go home underway. I guess I should be taking advantage of my last two months here in old Nippon, but there are two major things standing in the way:
- Cost of transportation
- I've been everywhere that I care to see in Kyoto and Osaka
It costs way too much to go places here. Getting to my girlfriend's apartment in Kyoto from my apartment in Osaka takes no less than two hours, 1,000 yen and involves changes trains and busses multiple times. If I wanted to go to Kobe or Wakayama it would cost another 2,000 yen round trip and frankly, I'm very broke at the moment. I have had to use credit just to buy food lately, so travel isn't much of an option.
Okay, so why not go somewhere local, right? Because honestly, I've seen everything I want to. Oh sure, there are more temples and stores and such, but (aside from the fact that they all cost money which I don't even have at the moment) I'm not that interested in seeing another temple or shop. Shops are only good if you have some cash to blow, which I believe I have firmly established that I do not.
As for temples, I am not a very religious person so I view most temples, no matter how beautiful, as a waste of resources. I've noticed a tendency for people who were raised Christian but no longer consider themselves as such to have a reverence for Asian religions, citing them as more spiritual. I personally view Asian religions o be just as silly as their western counterparts, but more wasteful in terms of land and materials used to build the shrines and temples.
So I've spent the pat week playing "Heroes" with some friends in Kyoto and watching the Olympics. The past two days sleeping exceedingly late, but the rest does feel good. School starts again on September 1st, so I guess this post is also a prediction for my activities next week as well. I have 11weeks remaining in Japan, 6-8 of which will be spent working and 2-3 which will be spent cleaning and moving. I will try to post an article about moving back to one's home country about the middle of October, as that is when the bulk of my moving adventure will take place.
Anyways, I'm getting super excited about going back home. But for now I think I'm going to take another nap.
*yawn*
-Maru!
So I have had a very busy past couple of weeks!
Last Friday, Jac and Anne came to stay. I was soooo excited about Jac coming- one of my first good female friends to visit me. I had so many things planned for her stay. Although, not everything went according to plan.
On the night she arrived, I had planned for us to have a drink at a couple of the local "foreigner" bars in town, after a nice Kobe Beef meal, and then head back to my local town for some celebratory Karaoke.
However, we got a bit carried away at the Hub drinking jumbo sized Long Island Ice Teas. Somehow it went from one drink, to two drinks, and then on the third drink I realised it was about time for the last train home. We had to rush to the train station, cutting it really, really fine. Then when we got to the train station, Jac and Annes lockers had expired, so we had to find more coins to put in the locker to get their stuff out. Disaster!!! We ended up missing the last train to Kakogawa, but JUST making the final local train to Nishi Akashi. We didn't even have time to buy tickets.... I don't know how we managed to get on and off the train with no tickets, but apparently I had had a lengthy conversation with the men at the train station..... which I don't remember at ALL. After 3 drinks. Those Long Island Ice Teas are brutal. We had to catch a taxi from Nishi Akashi to Kakogawa..... about an $80 taxi ride. I don't even know how I managed to give coherent directions to the taxi driver. We made it back though, joy of joys! I am pretty ashamed of myself.... but honestly the alcohol content of the cocktails was misleading, because they don't even taste that strongly of alcohol, and you can drink them so quickly.
I had planned for us to get up early on Saturday and drive to Kyoto. That did not happen due to shocking hang-overs. All we managed to do was Macdonalds for lunch. And then to one of my fave restaurants for dinner. So we had just one day in Kyoto!
We had planned to get up very early on Sunday to make up for our lack of Kyoto action on the Saturday, but that didn't pan out as I slept through my alarm. To make time even tighter, we woke up to a snow covered Kakogawa! It has snowed a few times in Kakogawa this year, but the snow on Sunday was something else. It had settled on the roads, even. We saw 2 snow-induced traffic accidents just 10 minutes from my house.
I had decided on the back route to get to Kyoto, as the roads are toll-free, and I thought it might be nice for Jac and Anne to get a look at back-country Hyogo. We got to within 50km of Kyoto, but had to change course because the roads were just covered in snow, and my car doesn't have snow tyres. Bah humbug! We didn't make it to Kyoto until lunch time!!!
Kyoto was pretty much packed, as it is popular to see a lot of the gardens and temples when they are covered in snow. We had to wait about 20 minutes to get through the gates of the Golden Pavilion. I have been there 4 times before, and never once had to queue for more than 2 minutes. It was full-on trying to get decent photos, too, as everyone was jostling for the best places to take photos from. Anyway, Jac and Anne managed to see the main sights of Kyoto, well, a couple of them anyway, but they will have to come back some other time to catch the rest of it!!
On Monday, they came to my school for a class. They were treated like rock stars by my students. I think they enjoyed themselves; but probably the students got more out of their visit than they did :)
Monday afternoon I had planned to take Jac and Anne to Himeji to visit the castle, and then to an onsen. Then I found out that the Bjork concert was on MONDAY night, not Tuesday night as I had thought since I had bought the tickets!!!! So we had to rush around Himeji castle (I really wish we could have spent longer, I feel terrible) and then rush to Osaka for the concert.
Bjork was fabulous! It was a bit of a showcase of what I think was new mixer technology.... all very digital and special. The stage was a bit small for the size of the arena. Bjork's voice was big enough to make up for shortcomings in the stage, though. For a little lady, she must have some huge lungs. Wouldn't want to get into a shouting match with her!! She sung a few of her old songs with new music in the back, which I was happy about as I don't really know any of the songs from her new album.
On Tuesday I had to work in the morning, so I left Jac and Anne to sleep in. They were still sleeping when I got home........ so Tuesday was a bit wasted as well. The weather was pretty much awful- freezing, rainy and windy. On the agenda for Tuesday was a visit to the Osaka Aquarium.
The Aquarium is awesome. They have just found the craziest sea animals and put them into a massive massive aquarium. Truly amazing. I recommend it to anyone visiting Osaka! I got a hot tip from another ALT- he told me about a discount pass you can buy at Osaka station (at the information desk just outside the Midosuji Subway gate.... at the midosuji exit of Osaka station...). It cost 2400yen, but it gives you free rides on any subway in Osaka for the whole day. Entry to the Aquarium is usually 2000yen..... but if you want to see bits of Osaka, then youll be getting on and off the subway all day.... I reckon we saved about 600yen each in subway fares, and we only got to Osaka later in the afternoon. If you were there all day, the savings would go into the 1000s of yen. Something to think about ;)
After the aquarium, we headed to Ame Mura in Shinsaibashi..... and had dinner and some Karaoke... which is all I had time for as I had to catch the train back to Kakogawa. Jac and Anne stayed the night in Osaka, as they were catching a flight up to Tokyo the next morning from Kansai airport.
It was so great to have Jac stay.... I wish she could have stayed longer though, so we could have fitted everything in!!! Oh well though..... Its a shame to have to go back to normal life over here. Its amazing how much having people stays messes with your routines :)
I was worried about being a bit depressed after Jac left, but I have other things to think about now! I have snowboarding trips planned for this weekend and next weekend, plus a trip up to Tokyo next week for a Leaver's conference. The leavers conference is about writing a resume and making the best out of having "JET" on your resume!! I thought it would be helpful, and hopefully will give me some ideas into what I should do when I get home.....
I have a speccy new suit to wear as well! Jac and Anne helped me get an outfit... and they even paid for the shoes and a cardigan to wear with it. Actually I am wearing the outfit right now as I had to attend the graduation ceremony today. Its a skirt, and I was bloody freezing in the gym watching the students graduate. I got a bit choked up actually today.... a couple of my absolutely favourite students were graduating, and they were all teary. A few students were bawling their eyes out. 
A few students asked me to sign their year books. A couple of them I would have been offended if they hadn't asked me; but then there were a few other kids I didn't really ever have anything to do with, ever, that asked me to sign their books (bless them really.... they didn't have many other signatures...). It was very awkward when it came to writing "Dear...." and I didn't know what their name was!!! I ended up just starting the signing with "GOODLUCK!"
I had a quick look through the year book, actually, and I made it into a few photos.... was a bit happy about that. Must say that my tits looked really huge in a couple of the photos. I don't know where they came from (*cough* well if not genetics, diet may have played a part....).
Will let you know how snowboarding in Hachi Kita, the conference in Tokyo and snowboarding in Nagano goes!
On Tuesday Mike and I arrived in Kyoto via the Shinkansen (a train that travelled at speeds around 300 m.p.h.). We checked into our hotel and began walking around the city, looking for a place to eat dinner. We headed toward the Heian Jingu (a Shinto shrine built in 1895 for the 1100 year anniversary of Kyoto).
We must have looked lost (I was reading the guide book) because a woman stopped to ask us (in English) if we needed help. She helped us find a restaurant (although most restaurants really look like small family-owned taverns) and we had a great udon dinner with some Kirin. We then wandered about the city and came across a park with a fenced-in bunny yard. I saw 3 bunnies in the bunny yard and was saying hello to the bunnies when an old man stopped to laugh at me.
I'm telling you Mike and I are entertainment for the Japanese. Everyone on the train was laughing at us because we had big suitcases. Unlike Europe, which has compartments by the doors of the trains for luggage, the Shinkansen has no luggage cars or closets. Everyone had small carry-on sized suitcases with them that fit in the racks above the train seats. They pointed at us and our big luggage and laughed, as they knew there was nowhere to stick our suitcases. That's it - from now on I'm travelling light and utilizing the hotel laundry service!
We did have a good laugh at the hotel bar though. We were sitting near a older couple (late 60s early 70s) when we realized they were both drunk. I mean really, really drunk. There was an empty champange bottle and several Martini glasses on their table. They began to get loud, and the man was laughing. He would say something to the woman (in Japanese), who would slur something back and then whack him upside the head and then he would laugh and laugh. Then the woman got up, almost fell down, signed the check and yelled at the man to come on. Unfortunately, as soon as he got out of his chair he fell on the floor. The bartender had to help him in another chair, and Mike told another hotel employee to get a wheelchair, because the man was too drunk to walk back to his room. But at least the guy was a happy drunk! He was still laughing!
Walking the grounds of Nijo-Ji castle and squeaking nightingale floors
The tranquil zen gardens
Dining cha-kaiseki style
Being a apprentice geisha for a day
Majestic temples
Inspiring art in rooftops
Restaurants and teahouses squeezed together in the narrow alleys of Pontocho
A geisha walks by on the cobbled streets of Ishibei-koji
Pink and white cherry blossoms
Kyoto, the historical heart of Japan...
The beauty and experience still etched in my mind.
Aren't they beautiful? *Sighs*...
And here is something special from my friend Ryo who lives in Chiba, Japan. This is his parents' dog. So cute!
Yep, he's the Sakura Dog! Lovin' those blossoms! :D
Special *hugs* to Melly Girl (darkfox) for braving the storms and for Scotty Boy (ringoboy) whose storms shall also pass :)
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