That aside, I managed to fit in a trip to Kyoto with some friends two weekends ago. Wednesday happened to be a public holiday and Sophia kindly inserted two meaningless, yet awfully convenient holidays on Monday and Tuesday which allowed us to get out of Tokyo.
A few days before leaving for Kyoto we heard there was a typhoon that was supposed to strike the Kanto region.
Lucky for us it didn't really have much effect and though it was raining on our first day in Kyoto the next two days were ok weather-wise.
伏見稲荷大社 Fushimi Inari shrine. Torii (the red arches that you see at Shinto shrines) line the walking trail that takes about 2 hours to walk throug fully. It's pretty awe inspiring stuff.
Each torii is actual purchased by an individual or company, and your details and wishes are inscribed on the torii. Be prepared to spend from $6500 to $20,000 (NZD) for one.
At this shrine, fox statues are everywhere. I can't explain though why they all have bibs.
Temple cat having a nap.
東本願寺 Higashi-Honganji temple - the world's largest fully wooden structure (not sure if that title still holds currently).
Moat outside the temple.
Inside Higashi-Hoganshi temple. You have to take your shoes off inside and it's eerily quiet inside.
I'm not sure what temple this was in, we didn't actually go in. I managed to sneak this shot from a distance though.
Snapped!
八坂神社 Yasaka Jinja (a Buddhist temple)
Juxtaposition (四条道 Shijo-doori from Yasaka temple in Gion)
Foreigners can dress up as geisha/maiko
Food market
Kanagawa river (photo taken in Gion from 五条大橋 Gojo-Ohashi)
Playing with shutter speed settings
金閣寺 Kinkakuji (or the Golden Pavilion). It's a lot smaller than it seems and though it was a nice place to visit I kind of felt like this place lost a bit of its magic because of the mass of food and souvenir stalls.
Kyoto Tower at night
Okonomiyaki - best I've ever had.
夕子 Yuko - a Japanese sweet specialty of Kyoto. As far as I know it's made from a rice wrapper and filled with various ingredients - usually macha (green tea), sesame or red bean. However some non traditional flavours like chocolate and banana were around. A majority of stalls in Kyoto give you free samples of these (especially near Kiyomizu area), and I ate so many free samples that I reckon I had about two boxes worth over the three days.
Randen train line which runs on two lines running from Arashiyama in the western side of Kyoto. The one carriage trains are definitely antiques.
天竜寺 Tenryuji temple (garden area)
I think if you get it in the bowl you get good luck... maybe?
大堰川 Oi River
A lot of rickshaws around Kyoto
I love the traditional Japanese shingles ubiquitously found on homes and temples around Kyoto.
I enjoyed our trip. We took night buses there and back. I can say that i wasn't the most comfortable way to travel - the bus ride is okay, but the timing of the departure and arrival (before midnight, arrive about 6-7am) really messes with your sleep, especially given the odd toilet stop at 3am. For those of you who are wanting to go to Kyoto, I would say that at the bare minimum, you would need four full days to see everything. Apart from eating places, everything else closes at about 8pm and there isn't much to do at night - so to make the most of your time, get up early!
Life continues to go on and so I have nothing much more remarkable to comment on, but life is pretty sweet. I could do this for much longer - and in fact, I asked my home university if I could extend my stay for another semester... but the reply I got from them was an unfortunate 'no'.
Our university and basically all the other Japanese universities have an imbalance of students, that is to say, as part of the reciprocal exchange agreement the number of students going from one uni to another have to be about the same - and in the case of Japanese universities, we've sent too many to Japan.
Given that, I'm trying to make the most of the little time I have left here. I'm coming up on two months out of 5.5. They have just flown by.
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