The Telegraphic

Kyoto is famous for its many, many temples and shrines. It has well over 2000 different temples and shrines, many of which have an entrance fee. After consulting my trusty Lonely Planet guide, Jo and I decided to spend a day in Sagano – an area of Kyoto that has a lot of good shrines. Sagono is located in the shadow of the mountains that surround Kyoto, so it’s very lush and beautiful. It was a wet day with mist swirling around the mountaintops, so the entire place had a calm, cool atmosphere. By the end of the day our shoes were completely soaked through but the day of sightseeing was worth it as the zen gardens were so much more enchanting. I went through the entire memory card on my camera, so you can see some of the better images here. We also went into Adashino Nembutsu-Ji, but I didnt take any photos because we weren’t allowed. It was by far the least interesting temple anyway.

You can see all the temple photos here.

Gion is the ‘cultural heart’ of Kyoto, which is the ‘cultural heart’ of Japan. It’s one of the only places left where seeing a Geisha hurrying from one teahouse to another is not uncommon. We decided we’d go there at night to go to a place called Gion Corner, where there is a one hour show of Japanese music and arts. We got on the wrong bus though and it took us about an hour to get there so we missed the show.

We (Jo, Brooke and Joanna, my dorm-mates), decided that seeing as we were there, we’d go for a wander. Whilst we were going down one of the streets we were ambushed by a Japanese Businessman shouting ‘Gajin’ (Foreigner). He invited us (lit: read ‘us’ ‘blonde haired female and friends’), to a karaoke bar which we (quite stupidly) accepted. The bloke was quite drunk and sung some Karaoke songs and bought us some drinks but Joanna (and the rest of us) decided it was getting a bit dodgy (the guy called me a ‘Hansamu Prinsu’ which I would have been flattered with in different circumstances, as well as throwing compliments at the females of the party, coupled with the fact that Joanna’s drink of wine was gigantic), so we made up an excuse and left.

When we got back to o youth hostel the living area was closed up for the night but we all thought we needed to have a bit of a drink. So we headed down to Lawson, a 24 hour deli that sells alcohol, and sat out the front drinking for a while watching the world go by and getting some really strange looks. All in all quite a strange night. No more going to Karaoke bars with salarymen for me.

Today we got on the Shinkansen to travel to our new Hostel in Kyoto. On the way we were lucky enough to see Fuji San in all his glory. See some photos here. We got here at about 12:00 so headed over to Higashi Honganji Shrine – which is the home of Amida Hall, which enshrines the Amida Buddah. Apparently the ropes used to heave up the large logs were made of human hair of the fanatical locals. One rope weighs about 1000kg. Pretty crazy.

We watched the first half of a prayer ceremony inside Amida Hall. I wasn’t allowed to take any photos in there but it’s a pretty amazing room, full of golden painted carvings and of course the Amida Buddah. I didn’t have the patience to watch it the whole way through but the experience was awesome.

We also went into a department store which had a hilariously bad amusement park on the top level of it. See for yourself.

After being forced out of bed by Jo this afternoon with a huge hangover, we went on a trek around Tokyo. Firstly, we went to Ueno which is apparently where you go to see the older parts of Tokyo. We found a really nice shrine tucked away in a back alleyway which is the first one I’ve visited. I took some photos so you can see them here.

After that we travelled to Shinjuku station – the busiest in the world. It wasn’t quite rush hour when we arrived but it was still amazingly packed full of people. There’s loads of different tracks, and a train every 5 minutes on each line and each one is full. We then figured we’d go and have a look a shinjuku and so we walked around aimlessly until we found Shinjuku tower (A skyscraper) and went up to the 30th floor to take some photos. I never realised just how big Tokyo is.

Tonight I’m gonna sort out my weblog and hopefully do some Kanji study so I can read a few more signs.

Today we were out by about 8:30 because Simon was off to Kitakyushu to meet up with some of his mates. After saying goodbye at Ueno station, Jo and I went for a walk around Ueno-koen (Ueno Park). According to Lonely Planet, Ueno Hill was the site of the last-ditch defense of e Tokugawa Shogunate in 1868. They were beaten by the imperial army and the new Meiji Government decided that the site should become a park. Check my photo section for some pics.
After that we went on the subway to Asakusa – the home of the Senso-ji temple which enshrines the Buddhist god of Mercy. The temple was amazing and next door to it was a woman with a monkey that did tricks to entertain the crowd. The monkey was very talented.
Lastly we went for a walk around Harajuku where the Meiji jingu shrine is located. It was built in memory of the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. The surrounding park, yoyogi-koen was a real reaxing place to walk around which was a bit of relief from the hoardes of people on the subways.

Tomorrow we’re off to Kyoto on the Shinkansen (bullet train), which is supposedly a lot more relaxed and pretty than Tokyo.