city escape

Kyoto

This past Friday was a national holiday (Culture Day, aka 'bunka no hi') For the 3 -day weekend I travelled with a few other JETs for a trip down south.

There I joined the massive crowds of tourists who flock to Kyoto to see the brilliant fall colors this time of year(kouyou in Japanese). Unfortunately its still pretty warm down in the Kansai region so most of the leaves hadn't turned yet. On the plus side the weather couldn't have been better.

Like everyone says, Kyoto is indeed a beautiful city worth visiting. However I thought a lot of its cultural and historical beauty has been sadly overshadowed by Japan's affinity for tourisim. All the temples and shrines are flooded with people taking pictures and venders selling tasteless souveniers. The temples and shrines themselves are pretty remarkable (unlike many of Japan's "historical" points of interest which have been so badly damaged by war, fire, and weather that little if anything remains of the original stucture). As Ivy mentioned later, its hard to be over-critical of that aspect of Japan when we ourselves are part of it.

Places visited in Kyoto: Golden Pavillion, Silver Pavillion, Philosopher's Path, and Gion. We came close to visiting Kiyomizu Temple but the crowds of people and standstill traffic prevented us from doing so.

Instead we spent some time wandering the old entertainment district of Gion in hopes of seeing an "authentic" Geisha or Maiko (apprentice Geisha). No luck, but it was really cool walking down the narrow dimly lit streets lined with old-looking private businesses reserved for Geisha entertainment. Most places were just a simple wooden facade with maybe a single lantern and a few discreet characters naming the restaurant/bar. Sometimes you could peek through some of the doors and see little geta sandals lined up in the entryway :)


Kobe

That Friday night I hopped on a special express to Kobe where I finally got to see my old friend Yuuki who studied at Edina High School my senior year (has it really been 5 years? we're gettin' old...) needless to say we had a lot of catching up to do. While in Kobe I stayed with Yuuki in his lovely western/japanese-style house, complete with heated floors and its own courtyard :) I was rather spoiled by the time I left. I also got to meet his family for the first time (all English speakers! his younger sister has a cool Japanese-Aussie accent from studying abroad there and his mom's a prof of English. kakkoi-jan)

In the morning Yuuki and I went to the Kinoto neighborhood in Kobe, famous for its western-style houses and shops. Many of the homes there are former residences of colonels and other westerners who once lived in the area.

Afterwards we met up with Ivy and a few of her friends for Dim Sum lunch at Chinatown. My friend Jana from UPS (a Kobe JET) joined us later for a pleasent boat ride on the Kobe Harbor and shopping on the pier. A lot of Kobe reminds me a bit of the better parts of Tokyo, except not quite as crowded or noisy.


I really liked Kobe. Maybe its just because I've been deprived of urbanity for maybe the longest time in my life and being with an old friend in a real city was like a breath of fresh air... in any case I had a really good time and was reluctant to have to go back to the inaka after such a short visit.

The next day after another delicious breakfast with Yuuki's family, we headed off to Sannomiya station where we said goodbye and took an hour train ride to our final and last destination.

Nara

Nara is one of Japans first capitals. Even though its known for its many shrines and temples like Kyoto, tourists primarily come here for one temple in particular- the Todaiji Temple- famous for being the largest wooden building in the world and housing one of Japan's largest Big Buddah (Daibutsu).

It's pretty spectacular.

Nara is also well-known for its overly tame Sika Deer that roam the grounds freely, blocking traffic and pestering tourists for food. The deer are regarded as National Treasures and as messengers from God: it's believed that the first emperor of Japan rode down to earth on a deer where he arrived in Nara. The swarms of "sacred" deer now inhabitating Nara are supposedly its descendants.



I found their presence more disturbing than anything else. Vendors on the streets were selling "deer senbei" to tourists to feed the deer, as if they weren't already overly-tame enough. The senbei resemble normal street food, so its easy for foreigners who can't read the character "deer" to unwittingly mistake the crackers for people food. Most of the male deer had their horns sawed off for safety reasons. I can understand why, but its still not right. We were saying it would be more enjoyable if the deer were kept out of danger and from endangering others by putting up fences around the crowded tourist areas.
Anyway...

Good trip. Blew a lot of money but had fun, got to escape the bitter cold inaka, see the sites, catch up with old friends, and unwind a bit.
Now I'm missing the city more than ever :(