Rome-ing Minutes: July 2016

We took a train to Nara and quickly found the meeting place for the NaraWalk group tour. Luckily, the group was just the 2 of us! The guide brought us around Nara Park and showed us where to buy biscuits to feed the deer, which, like in Miyajima, just roam about the humans fearlessly. The deer were hungry and 2 very antlered fellows aggressively requested a snack so it got a little scary.

We visited the Kasuga shrine, traveling through the woods along the stone lantern lined pathway. We were incredibly fortunate to see both a newborn ceremony AND a wedding procession taking place at the shrine!

Afterwards, we went to Todaiji Temple, which was possibly my favorite Temple that we saw in Japan. It's an enormous structure on a wide lawn and inside is a massive bronze-covered buddha statue, which is a pretty awesome engineering accomplishment considering how long ago it was first built. The tour finished at the Kofukuji temple with it's 5 storied pagoda.

In the afternoon, we stopped in the Nara Visitor Center for a kimono photoshoot. We ended up having so much fun we stayed for a couple of hours shmoozing with the old Japanese man with incredible English. In our discussions, we learned about the Japanese elections and the Nara prefecture. We also tasted locally grown tomatoes and competed to move marbles using chopsticks (I won). Then, we walked around the old city, Naramachi.

On the older man's suggestions, we took the train to Osaka to see Dotonbori at night. We enjoyed an okonomiyaki dinner and then went up to the top of Abeno Harukas, Japan's recently tallest skyscraper, for incredible 360-degree sunset views of Osaka. We admired the evening views and then dark fell and the city transformed as all the city lights turned on. It was beautiful!

Afterwards, we made our way to Dotonbori, a Times Square-esque street but so much bigger and crazier, as is everything in Japan. We walked the streets in a state of shock and admiration. We stayed out late, enjoying the wacky vibe and then returned to Kyoto for bed.

In the morning, we returned to Osaka, stopping first in Kyoto at Sanjusangendo Temple, famous for 1001 statues of the 1000-armed Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The train to Osaka had major delays due to an accident. The announcements were made in Japanese and Google translate had trouble picking up the words of the announcement over the general clammer of the train so we just followed the crowds onto a rerouted local train and slowly made our way to Osaka. The hours of standing on the crowded trains did put a damper in our admiration of the trains. We eventually made it to Osaka Castle Park but the castle was closed by that time so we didn't go inside and and see the views from the top floor. Still, it was a very impressive and beautiful building.

We made our way back to Dotonbori to see it during daylight. There, we found an Israeli bar! We also sought and discovered well-priced ($28) shiatsu massages and found our zen. After weeks of non-stop moving, our bodies definitely appreciated the healing touch.

We woke up in Kyoto for our last morning in Japan. We went back to the Arashiyama neighborhood to visit the monkey park Iwatayama! First, was a steep 20 - 30 minute climb to the top of a hill. At the top were panoramic views of (cloud-covered) Kyoto and dozens of wild Macaque monkeys everywhere. To my delight, we fed and photographed the adorably playful monkeys. It was so much fun but eventually we had to leave the monkeys and descend the hill to catch our flight.

Goodbye Japan. Hello first class.

Nara

Feeding the Deer in Nara

Nara

Origami

Dotonbori

Nara

Wedding in Nara

Everything is Matcha (green tea) flavored!

Nara

Okonomiyaki

Osaka from Above

Osaka Castle

Osaka

Osaka Castle

Monkey Park, Kyoto

Monkeys playing with fish, Kyoto

Face Mask and Eye Mask Set

First Class JAL Seats

Our first day in Kyoto we met our tour guide, Yoshiko Tani (Debbie), who would bring us around Kyoto. Our first stop was Nijo Castle. Actually, our first stop was the cafe in Nijo Castle so we could caffeinate. I ordered a delicious Uji matcha latte. The castle was really interesting. We entered through a grand gate covered in gold and symbols such as flowers and Chinese dragons. We learned about how the castle was used including the flow of movement and hierarchy of its visitors. Every room contained large murals, which indicated the purpose of the room. Our favorite room depicted leopards and tigers together - We learned that since neither was native to Japan, they were only known through Chinese depictions and they were thought to be male and female versions of the same animal!

Next, we went to Rokuon-ji Temple to see the Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillon). It was built in the 1220's by the shogun and is completely covered in gold leaf. It is really breathtaking and the gardens were very nice too. Next, we went to the Ryoanji Buddhist Temple and meditated at the famous rock garden. The true meaning of the rock garden is unknown but there was one feature that we both really liked. To symbolizing imperfection, i's impossible to see all the rocks at once from any position. The surrounding garden was beautiful. Before we left, we were stopped by some Asian school children and asked to be in a photograph with them. We obliged and the 4 of us made the peace sign with our fingers and posed for the picture.

Afterwards, we walked through the Bamboo Grove in the Arashiyama neighborhood. The path amongst enormously tall Bamboo trees was really peaceful (once you ignore the other tourists). On our way to the forrest, we passed by a poster we had seen all over the place. We inquired and the tour guide explained that it's an campaign poster for opposition candidate for prime minister. Josh asked her to read us what it said and we were sure glad - after listing his credentials that you would expect on a campaign poster such as his age, education, family and volunteer experience, it also provided his shoe size (in centimeters), which we found hilarious!!

We had lunch with the tour guide at a vegan restaurant in Arashiyama called Prunus. We got dumplings and soy chicken nuggets and tried the Japanese comfort food of curry and rice. We later attempted to go back our last day for lunch but it was closed.

We then went to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, famous for the thousands of red tori gates leading up the hill. We climbed part of the way up for some good views of Kyoto. Unfortunately, it started raining on us and we got completely bitten up by insects so we didn't stay to admire the view for long. On our way down, we met an Iranian couple and they decided to accompany us to Gion to try and see a geisha.

We led the way to Gion and were very proud of ourselves at our acquired ability to navigate the local trains without a guide. We walked through Gion to all the spots that our tour guide had recommended but unfortunately (possibly because of the weather), we didn't get to see any geishas (called Geiko in Kyoto). On our way to dinner (we ate vegetarian udon curry soups), we passed by the beautiful, bright red Yasaka Shrine. It's so much fun walking through Kyoto, where you frequently stumble upon awesome shrines and temples!

The next day, we started by exploring the enormous Buddhist temple next to our hotel. We made our way to the city bus. We passed a Japanese gaming parlor, which can only be described by an adult arcade with row after row of human zombis glued to flashy gaming consoles. Let's just say, if a pinball machine and a slot machine were to get married in Japan, Pachinko would be born. We decided to see what the fuss is about and purchased a tub of balls to feed into the machine and get our own games going. We lost all our balls pretty quickly but apparently I did well. I say 'apparently' because we had very little clue as to what we were supposed to be doing or aiming for.

After being gravely disappointed that we didn't win any prizes, we managed to find and catch our bus. We walked up a cobble stone street lined with shops and sweets stores (with free tasters) and managed to get a lunch's worth of bite-size pastries as we made our way up to the shrine and Nanzen-ji temple. Afterwards, we walked through the Nishiki food market, which was great fun and more importantly covered (yay shade!).

That evening, determined to see geisha (or apprentices) we returned to Gion for a Maiko show. After arriving, we discovered that the 6pm show was sold out so we had to wait for the 7pm show. When we finally were seated in the auditorium, we quickly discovered that the performers weren't so much maiko as much as really old people who like to perform. The acts included a tea ceremony (I was selected to receive the tea and biscuit), flower arranging, harp playing, various types of dancing and acting, and a puppet show, which was the highlight for both of us. It wasn't terrible but the show definitely was not a necessary activity. But all is well that ends well so we went to Kyoto Station for okonomiyaki. Delish!