Today I finally went to a place that I'd been really looking forward to coming to since I first started planning this trip to Japan: Arashiyama.
I decided to cycle there, to save money (not that it's expensive to get there by train) and so that I wouldn't have to deal with public transport. It's on the outskirts of the city, but not too far from where I'm staying; about 10 minutes by train. The ride took about an hour, inclusive of getting lost, and it wasn't uphill at all, which I had thought was the case.
When I got there, I found somewhere to park my bike, and found a directory to orient myself.
I finally figured out why Japanese sign-maps seem to always have North facing a random direction, rather than at the top of the map like is the norm in the west.
Basically, the maps in Japan are always aligned with the direction you're facing while you're looking at them. So if you're facing south while you're looking at the map, south will be at the top of the map. So "up" is always "forward". I like it!
My first stop, and highlight of the day, was the Iwatayama Monkey Park. I bought my ticket, and the ticket-lady also gave me a canvas to put a plastic bag that I had with me inside. She said the monkeys think plastic = food, and will steal my bag!
I climbed up the (fairly steep) path, on the way trying to read some wooden signboards with trivia questions on them. Basically, they have a question on a hinged piece of wood, and the answer is underneath. They're designed for children, but still they were too hard for me to read! I managed to figure out what one of them was asking, though, and even answered it correctly. It was asking "What kind of monkeys are in Iwatayama?" with options between (a) Chimpanzee, (b) Japanese Monkey, and (c) Gorilla, for the answers. Not a hard one!
There was also some funny Engrish to read on the signs. "The monkey park is not only a monkey. The bird and the deer also look for." :)
Near the top, I finally started to see monkeys! They were bigger than I thought they'd be, and very cute. I was guided by an employee into the feeding hut, which is a caged building in which you can buy drinks for yourself and food for the monkeys, who hang on the outside of the cage waiting for food. Of course, I bought a bag of chopped bananas and fed the monkeys. They're quite incredible, and so human in a lot of ways. It's easy to believe in evolution when you're watching these guys eat.
I wandered about the park for a bit; there were a lot of other people there filming/photographing/sketching the monkeys; it was a really lovely atmosphere. I wish I had taken a book and picnic. I could have sat there all day with my brothers.
I had a lot more to see in Arashiyama, though, so I had to leave. First stop: fill my growling stomach. I found a little noodle house, and had my usual kitsune udon. Delicious!
Then I went to the nearby Tenryu-ji temple. It's one of Kyoto's many UNESCO World Heritage sites, but to be honest, I was a bit templed out by now. Also, you had to pay separate fees for the temple itself and for the garden (￥500 and ￥600, respectively) so I only went into the garden. You could actually see a lot of the temple itself from the path through the garden, so I don't know how worth it the temple pass would have been. The garden was big and lovely, as most temple gardens are. There wasn't anything particularly special that set it apart from any other temple garden, though.
I left the temple and took a stroll through the gorgeous Sagano Bamboo Forest, that Arashiyama is perhaps most famous for. Japan is no different from anywhere else, in that often the free things are better than what you pay to see. The forest goes on for a while, and there are a few other temples and gardens along the way that I didn't go into, as well as some nice ponds to admire.
I came out of the forest by some farmland, which really struck me. Only 10 minutes away from a bustling city, is this secluded little rural lifestyle. At the side of the field were some beautiful flowers, and a couple of butterflies who wouldn't let me photograph them.
I didn't really do much else with the day; just enjoyed wondering about this incredible little village.
I was sort of worn out still from the weekend, and feeling a bit mellow, so I went back a bit earlier than I normally would have (I left Arashiyama at about 4.30), and I had an early-ish night.
After I got lost on the way home, of course.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Day 12 (Sunday 17th Oct, 2010)
I got back to the hostel at about 8am, just after the doors unlock again (curfew etc.)
I briefly entertained the idea of not going to sleep, but I was SO tired. I went to bed at about 8.30, and got in a couple of hours' sleep before I woke up around 11 by the hustle and bustle of other people in the dorm room being awake.
I had a quick shower, before I went to chill out at Kyoto Station for a bit.
I wasn't really hung over, just very very tired. I pretty much planned to have a lazy one today, heh. I had a quick burger at a place in Kyoto Station; I forgot the name of it, but their burgers are good and cheap, and their image is based on a (very filtered) image of America, so all the staff wear ten-gallon hats. Awesome.
I trolled some shops for a few hours, and spent a bit of time in the bookshop in the Avanti building that I was at before. I didn't buy anything, but I was sort of getting an idea of what books I want to buy to take back with me.
I did manage to find a Japanese copy of Alice in Wonderland （不思議の国のアリス, fushigi no kuni no arisu) which I will surely buy. Unfortunately it has a lot of kanji without accompanying furigana (google these terms, kanji and furigana, and you'll see my dilemma. I can read very few kanji). I'll also pick up a couple more comics; I've discovered that ALL Shonen Jump (a popular manga publisher in Japan) have furigana for every kanji, so that is very helpful. And they have a lot of cool comics.
They also have a copy there of an English book, "Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps", for about ￥2500. It's the only English book written on Shinsengumi, and its a bit cheaper than it would be to import in Australia (it doesn't seem to be available locally there), so I'll probably buy that as well.
On the way back to the hostel, I happened by a store specializing in flannel in shirts. I got a really nice black/red one for about ￥1200. Good cop.
Also on my way back, through Kyoto Station, I stumbled upon an amazing sight, which I'm not sure how to describe.
You may have seen videos of waterfalls, in which the water drops are timed, such that as they fall the water droplets create pseudo-pixels to create an image in the falling water. This one was I guess advertising a nearby hotel, and among the images produced were a variety of cool patterns, images of famous sights in Kyoto, the name of the hotel (in both Japanese and English) and some other words. It was pretty incredible; I took some film footage of it which I will edit and upload to YouTube when I get home (along with all the rest of my film footage from this trip).
I had an early dinner at a cheap gyudon place near the hostel on my way back, then, needless to say, I had an early night. Tomorrow will be a big, fun-filled day in Arashiyama.
I briefly entertained the idea of not going to sleep, but I was SO tired. I went to bed at about 8.30, and got in a couple of hours' sleep before I woke up around 11 by the hustle and bustle of other people in the dorm room being awake.
I had a quick shower, before I went to chill out at Kyoto Station for a bit.
I wasn't really hung over, just very very tired. I pretty much planned to have a lazy one today, heh. I had a quick burger at a place in Kyoto Station; I forgot the name of it, but their burgers are good and cheap, and their image is based on a (very filtered) image of America, so all the staff wear ten-gallon hats. Awesome.
I trolled some shops for a few hours, and spent a bit of time in the bookshop in the Avanti building that I was at before. I didn't buy anything, but I was sort of getting an idea of what books I want to buy to take back with me.
I did manage to find a Japanese copy of Alice in Wonderland （不思議の国のアリス, fushigi no kuni no arisu) which I will surely buy. Unfortunately it has a lot of kanji without accompanying furigana (google these terms, kanji and furigana, and you'll see my dilemma. I can read very few kanji). I'll also pick up a couple more comics; I've discovered that ALL Shonen Jump (a popular manga publisher in Japan) have furigana for every kanji, so that is very helpful. And they have a lot of cool comics.
They also have a copy there of an English book, "Shinsengumi: The Shogun's Last Samurai Corps", for about ￥2500. It's the only English book written on Shinsengumi, and its a bit cheaper than it would be to import in Australia (it doesn't seem to be available locally there), so I'll probably buy that as well.
On the way back to the hostel, I happened by a store specializing in flannel in shirts. I got a really nice black/red one for about ￥1200. Good cop.
Also on my way back, through Kyoto Station, I stumbled upon an amazing sight, which I'm not sure how to describe.
You may have seen videos of waterfalls, in which the water drops are timed, such that as they fall the water droplets create pseudo-pixels to create an image in the falling water. This one was I guess advertising a nearby hotel, and among the images produced were a variety of cool patterns, images of famous sights in Kyoto, the name of the hotel (in both Japanese and English) and some other words. It was pretty incredible; I took some film footage of it which I will edit and upload to YouTube when I get home (along with all the rest of my film footage from this trip).
I had an early dinner at a cheap gyudon place near the hostel on my way back, then, needless to say, I had an early night. Tomorrow will be a big, fun-filled day in Arashiyama.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Day 11 (Saturday 16th Oct, 2010)
Today I wanted to chill and have a relaxed one, because I was planning on going out tonight to enjoy the nightlife of Kyoto.
Another guest at Tour Club asked me if I would like to come along with her to Higashiyama, and I thought "why not?". I thought she was kinda cute...
...She was also really annoying. I don't know why, but I just couldn't stand to be around her. And she had bad breath, and she smoked this really foul smelling tobacco. I like the smell of cigarette smoke, so for me to not like this smoke means it was BAD.
We pretty much went to places I'd already been before, and have mentioned in this blog, so I won't retell those stories. Suffice it to say, it wasn't a great day. Hopefully the night would be better.
* * * * * * * * *
We got back to the hostel at about 4.30, and I washed and dried my clothes (I need some good wears for a night on the town, right?) and I had a quick convenience store bento meal. (I'm going to lose so much weight eating these meals, but they're so cheap and convenient!), and then I headed out for downtown. It's not too far, so I decided to walk; I didn't want to have to deal with a bicycle when I'm drunk at 5 in the morning.
I happened to pass by Teramachi-dori, so I had to stop in at a-Cho (that arcade) for a bit. I didn't play any games, as these top tier Japanese players pretty much crushed by spirits pretty quickly by revealing to me just how bad I really am; but I still like to hang out there. There was a Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike ranbat (Ranking Battle, a type of regularly held tournament) going on, so that was fun to watch. They're so GOOD, it's not fair.
A hung around for a bit, then went to find my first bar of the night: ING Bar. I've heard it's awesome, and it sounds/looks cool, so I wanted to see it.
It's the kind of bar that's easy to find when you know where it is; but if you're just wandering about looking for a drinking hole you won't find it. It's on the second floor of a random building in Kyoto downtown (Kyoto Royal Building), with almost no signage on the street (there's a small sign, one of about 20, listing the establishments in the building), but when you know where to go it's easy to get to.
And boy, was it awesome! The place is really small, seating for perhaps 25 people (2 large tables, 2 smaller tables, and a bar that seats 4), and you could perhaps add another 20 standing patrons. It's really dark and gritty, and posters (mostly of the Rolling Stones) cover the walls. There's also a Les Paul hanging from one wall. The bar itself is covered with all sorts of little nick-nacks; statues of skeletons, empty bottles of various liquors etc. It makes quite a nice display.
Behind the bar is Hako-san, perhaps the friendliest bartender I've ever met, and one of the most interesting people in general.
He has an incredible ability to do everything in the bar by himself, all at once (though when it gets busy he has one or two helpers): serve the drinks, mix the cocktails, cook the food, play the music, talk to the customers, and have some drinks and smokes of his own. And he makes it look like its easy to do all these things at once.
When I say he "plays the music", he has two CD players and a record player, and a vast collection of CDs and records behind the bar. He puts one on for a few tracks, then puts another CD in the other player. When the current song ends, he hits "Stop" on that one, then "Play" on the other. Very old-school, none of this fancy MP3s and playlists stuff. Good man.
I sat and had a few beers here, and chatted with Hako-san, mostly about music, then I left to decide if I would go home, or stay out.
Something I forgot to mention: the hostel I'm staying at has an 11pm curfew. So if you go out, you have to go out all night. The hostel opens again at 8am.
So it was about 10pm, and I was deciding if I would go back and sleep, or stay out and risk having to coma in a manga cafe somewhere. I was a bit drunk already by this point (3 longnecks will do that), and I decided to do the all night thing. You only live once, right?
I sort of sobered up a bit while wondering around trying to (a) find a 7-Eleven so I could get some more cash out, and (b) decide where to go.
I stumbled upon a British style pub called Hub, where I had a couple more beers and some buffalo wings, and watched a football game on TV. (Man Utd. vs someone), then I decided to go to a club called "Billy Bar", where foreigners usually get in for free. (Yay, saving money!)
...I couldn't actually find the place, even with my "Funkyoto" map of the downtown area's clubs, so I eventually I decided to go to a nearby place called "Sam and Dave" that looked like it was pumping. Incidentally, I did find a 7-Eleven on the way.
I'm glad I decided to drop in, because this place was great! ￥2000 cover charge is not bad, considering it includes two drinks. I was surprised to see that most of the bartenders were foreign. I still ordered my drinks in Japanese, though~
The place was great, as I said, basically I partied there till they closed at 5am. I made some friends while I was there, with a couple of really cute Japanese girls, and a couple of other guys (who were probably also jocking the girls).
After the place closed, we all exchanged facebook details (this is the first time I was concerned about not having a working phone in Japan), and then went to a nearby place for breakfast. The girls and one of the guys left, but myself and the other guy (who calls himself Johnny Walker) stuck around for another beer. I don't know where the place was, but ￥200 for a glass of beer was not bad! (Slightly bigger than a pot). By this time it was about 7am, and surely time to call it a "night".
As I was stumbling home, I was faced with a dilemma: when you have a night of pouring lots of beer into you, you soon have to dispose of it. Now in Australia, you can just find a dark corner and let it out. But not so in this clean city of Kyoto. And of course, at 7am, nothing is open.
It was getting fairly desperate, but I found a little 24hr cafe who let me use their toilet. I've never been more grateful.
During the stumble home I enjoyed some hot coffee from a vending machine for the first time. :)
Another guest at Tour Club asked me if I would like to come along with her to Higashiyama, and I thought "why not?". I thought she was kinda cute...
...She was also really annoying. I don't know why, but I just couldn't stand to be around her. And she had bad breath, and she smoked this really foul smelling tobacco. I like the smell of cigarette smoke, so for me to not like this smoke means it was BAD.
We pretty much went to places I'd already been before, and have mentioned in this blog, so I won't retell those stories. Suffice it to say, it wasn't a great day. Hopefully the night would be better.
* * * * * * * * *
We got back to the hostel at about 4.30, and I washed and dried my clothes (I need some good wears for a night on the town, right?) and I had a quick convenience store bento meal. (I'm going to lose so much weight eating these meals, but they're so cheap and convenient!), and then I headed out for downtown. It's not too far, so I decided to walk; I didn't want to have to deal with a bicycle when I'm drunk at 5 in the morning.
I happened to pass by Teramachi-dori, so I had to stop in at a-Cho (that arcade) for a bit. I didn't play any games, as these top tier Japanese players pretty much crushed by spirits pretty quickly by revealing to me just how bad I really am; but I still like to hang out there. There was a Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike ranbat (Ranking Battle, a type of regularly held tournament) going on, so that was fun to watch. They're so GOOD, it's not fair.
A hung around for a bit, then went to find my first bar of the night: ING Bar. I've heard it's awesome, and it sounds/looks cool, so I wanted to see it.
It's the kind of bar that's easy to find when you know where it is; but if you're just wandering about looking for a drinking hole you won't find it. It's on the second floor of a random building in Kyoto downtown (Kyoto Royal Building), with almost no signage on the street (there's a small sign, one of about 20, listing the establishments in the building), but when you know where to go it's easy to get to.
And boy, was it awesome! The place is really small, seating for perhaps 25 people (2 large tables, 2 smaller tables, and a bar that seats 4), and you could perhaps add another 20 standing patrons. It's really dark and gritty, and posters (mostly of the Rolling Stones) cover the walls. There's also a Les Paul hanging from one wall. The bar itself is covered with all sorts of little nick-nacks; statues of skeletons, empty bottles of various liquors etc. It makes quite a nice display.
Behind the bar is Hako-san, perhaps the friendliest bartender I've ever met, and one of the most interesting people in general.
He has an incredible ability to do everything in the bar by himself, all at once (though when it gets busy he has one or two helpers): serve the drinks, mix the cocktails, cook the food, play the music, talk to the customers, and have some drinks and smokes of his own. And he makes it look like its easy to do all these things at once.
When I say he "plays the music", he has two CD players and a record player, and a vast collection of CDs and records behind the bar. He puts one on for a few tracks, then puts another CD in the other player. When the current song ends, he hits "Stop" on that one, then "Play" on the other. Very old-school, none of this fancy MP3s and playlists stuff. Good man.
I sat and had a few beers here, and chatted with Hako-san, mostly about music, then I left to decide if I would go home, or stay out.
Something I forgot to mention: the hostel I'm staying at has an 11pm curfew. So if you go out, you have to go out all night. The hostel opens again at 8am.
So it was about 10pm, and I was deciding if I would go back and sleep, or stay out and risk having to coma in a manga cafe somewhere. I was a bit drunk already by this point (3 longnecks will do that), and I decided to do the all night thing. You only live once, right?
I sort of sobered up a bit while wondering around trying to (a) find a 7-Eleven so I could get some more cash out, and (b) decide where to go.
I stumbled upon a British style pub called Hub, where I had a couple more beers and some buffalo wings, and watched a football game on TV. (Man Utd. vs someone), then I decided to go to a club called "Billy Bar", where foreigners usually get in for free. (Yay, saving money!)
...I couldn't actually find the place, even with my "Funkyoto" map of the downtown area's clubs, so I eventually I decided to go to a nearby place called "Sam and Dave" that looked like it was pumping. Incidentally, I did find a 7-Eleven on the way.
I'm glad I decided to drop in, because this place was great! ￥2000 cover charge is not bad, considering it includes two drinks. I was surprised to see that most of the bartenders were foreign. I still ordered my drinks in Japanese, though~
The place was great, as I said, basically I partied there till they closed at 5am. I made some friends while I was there, with a couple of really cute Japanese girls, and a couple of other guys (who were probably also jocking the girls).
After the place closed, we all exchanged facebook details (this is the first time I was concerned about not having a working phone in Japan), and then went to a nearby place for breakfast. The girls and one of the guys left, but myself and the other guy (who calls himself Johnny Walker) stuck around for another beer. I don't know where the place was, but ￥200 for a glass of beer was not bad! (Slightly bigger than a pot). By this time it was about 7am, and surely time to call it a "night".
As I was stumbling home, I was faced with a dilemma: when you have a night of pouring lots of beer into you, you soon have to dispose of it. Now in Australia, you can just find a dark corner and let it out. But not so in this clean city of Kyoto. And of course, at 7am, nothing is open.
It was getting fairly desperate, but I found a little 24hr cafe who let me use their toilet. I've never been more grateful.
During the stumble home I enjoyed some hot coffee from a vending machine for the first time. :)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Day 10 (Friday 15th Oct, 2010)
Today's agenda: more temples, more shrines, more sightseeing.
Before setting off, I stopped briefly at Kyoto Tower to have a look at the apparently very good book shop on it's third floor. It wasn't that great; however due to the popularity of the NHK drama "Ryomaden," about Sakamoto Ryoma, there was a display of a selection of manga series based on Ryoma, Shinsengumi, and the Bakumatsu in general. I need to go back and note down the names of them all, they looked pretty sweet.
After that brief detour, I headed out to To-ji, "Eastern Temple", which is a little way south of Kyoto Station and is well known for having the tallest pagoda in Japan.
As always, I got lost, but I found my way there eventually.
I found somewhere to park my bike, then wandered around the temple grounds for a bit. In one of the halls, there was a free exhibition of an artist who's name I've forgotten; it was really awesome stuff though. They were woodblock prints, but they kind of had a contemporary sumi-e feel to them (I love sumi-e art).
After being amazed by these works of art, I went to the ticket counter to get into the good part of the temple. When I got there I got very confused.
There were three different sections of the temple, and each one was ￥500 each; or you could go to all three for ￥1000. Unfortunately, the sign detailing what each section was was all in Japanese, so...
Fortunately when I got to the ticket counter, they had a map to show where you could go and for how much. I decided to only pay ￥500 and go into the main, southern part of the temple grounds where the pagoda is, as that's really what I came here to see.
Inside this section, as well as the very impressive pagoda (54.8m high), there was a very nice garden, with a pond with fish and turtles and the like in it, and two other large wooden halls which house many buddhist statues. Unfortunately, I couldn't take photos inside (as usual), because the statues were really impressive.
I was also hoping the pagoda might be open to go inside, but it's apparently only open a few days a year.
When I was done there, I went to get my bike so I could head out to the next stop of the day, but... I couldn't remember where I parked it! All I knew was that I had parked it next to some other bikes. So I wondered about aimlessly for a while, until eventually I found where I had left it.
With my ass back on my bicycle seat, I set off to the next stop: a large white cube shaped building, with lots of windows, in the industrial area of southern Kyoto, with "NINTENDO" at the top of it in big letters. Yes, the Nintendo building! Unfortunately you couldn't go inside (its just a regular workplace, after all), there are no tours or anything. But just to stand outside, and look up in awe, and wonder what wonderful new creations are being concocted inside was great enough. It's like the Wonka Chocolate Factory of the digital age.
I managed to avoid getting hit by cars/buses/trucks etc as I rode through the narrow sideroads to what would be my final stop of the day: Fushimi Inari Tasisha (shrine).
I've been looking forward to this because (a) it's apparently very impressive and (b) it's free. When I got there, I finally managed to figure how to ask "Where is a bicycle parking area?" in Japanese (this one has had me stumped for days); and found the place. I ate some REALLY nice read-made tuna/mayo sandwiches that I got from a nearby Fresco for only ￥68 each; less than it would cost for the ingredients back in Australia. Whoever said Japan is expensive wasn't trying his best to be thrifty. Four of these sandwiches and my belly was full, for less than ￥300. Good lunch.
Fushimi Inari was certainly impressive. It's known for its many vermillion "torii" gates (google it, I can't explain); but I was first struck by the many beautiful fox statues. Foxes (kitsune) are believed to be messengers of the Shinto god "Inari", god of rice, agriculture and industry. As such, the kitsune statues are often seen with a key in their mouth, which is the key to the granary.
I studied the statues at the entrance for a spell (I'm fascinated by foxes and wolves and the like), then set off for the main draw of this shrine: the many torii gates.
Nobody told me I was getting myself into a 4km hike, a lot of which is uphill. These gates line almost the entire pathway; there are something like 10,000 in total, all of which were donated by companies (or individuals) who want good luck with their business. I think the biggest gates cost something in the region of ￥1,000,000.
Also, along the track there are a lot of little complexes of "mini-shrines" (they have a proper name, I'm not sure what it is though) and graveyards, all decorated beautifully, and with lots of fox statues. There were also a lot of spider webs, home to some very cool looking black and yellow spiders.
The entire track took me about 2 hours, I guess (I didn't time it), and needless to say I was VERY grateful for the vending machine at the top of the hill.
I had planned to visit one more temple, Sanjusangendo, which is home to 1001 buddha statues in 33 bays along the corridor (hence the name, San-ju-san is 33 in Japanese); but by the time I was finished at Fushimi Inari it was too late.
I navigated my way through more narrow streets (I've grown much more confidant in cycling on the road with cars now, though I have a couple of "cycling roads" that I prefer to use when I can), and settled in to the hostel for some much needed rest.
Before setting off, I stopped briefly at Kyoto Tower to have a look at the apparently very good book shop on it's third floor. It wasn't that great; however due to the popularity of the NHK drama "Ryomaden," about Sakamoto Ryoma, there was a display of a selection of manga series based on Ryoma, Shinsengumi, and the Bakumatsu in general. I need to go back and note down the names of them all, they looked pretty sweet.
After that brief detour, I headed out to To-ji, "Eastern Temple", which is a little way south of Kyoto Station and is well known for having the tallest pagoda in Japan.
As always, I got lost, but I found my way there eventually.
I found somewhere to park my bike, then wandered around the temple grounds for a bit. In one of the halls, there was a free exhibition of an artist who's name I've forgotten; it was really awesome stuff though. They were woodblock prints, but they kind of had a contemporary sumi-e feel to them (I love sumi-e art).
After being amazed by these works of art, I went to the ticket counter to get into the good part of the temple. When I got there I got very confused.
There were three different sections of the temple, and each one was ￥500 each; or you could go to all three for ￥1000. Unfortunately, the sign detailing what each section was was all in Japanese, so...
Fortunately when I got to the ticket counter, they had a map to show where you could go and for how much. I decided to only pay ￥500 and go into the main, southern part of the temple grounds where the pagoda is, as that's really what I came here to see.
Inside this section, as well as the very impressive pagoda (54.8m high), there was a very nice garden, with a pond with fish and turtles and the like in it, and two other large wooden halls which house many buddhist statues. Unfortunately, I couldn't take photos inside (as usual), because the statues were really impressive.
I was also hoping the pagoda might be open to go inside, but it's apparently only open a few days a year.
When I was done there, I went to get my bike so I could head out to the next stop of the day, but... I couldn't remember where I parked it! All I knew was that I had parked it next to some other bikes. So I wondered about aimlessly for a while, until eventually I found where I had left it.
With my ass back on my bicycle seat, I set off to the next stop: a large white cube shaped building, with lots of windows, in the industrial area of southern Kyoto, with "NINTENDO" at the top of it in big letters. Yes, the Nintendo building! Unfortunately you couldn't go inside (its just a regular workplace, after all), there are no tours or anything. But just to stand outside, and look up in awe, and wonder what wonderful new creations are being concocted inside was great enough. It's like the Wonka Chocolate Factory of the digital age.
I managed to avoid getting hit by cars/buses/trucks etc as I rode through the narrow sideroads to what would be my final stop of the day: Fushimi Inari Tasisha (shrine).
I've been looking forward to this because (a) it's apparently very impressive and (b) it's free. When I got there, I finally managed to figure how to ask "Where is a bicycle parking area?" in Japanese (this one has had me stumped for days); and found the place. I ate some REALLY nice read-made tuna/mayo sandwiches that I got from a nearby Fresco for only ￥68 each; less than it would cost for the ingredients back in Australia. Whoever said Japan is expensive wasn't trying his best to be thrifty. Four of these sandwiches and my belly was full, for less than ￥300. Good lunch.
Fushimi Inari was certainly impressive. It's known for its many vermillion "torii" gates (google it, I can't explain); but I was first struck by the many beautiful fox statues. Foxes (kitsune) are believed to be messengers of the Shinto god "Inari", god of rice, agriculture and industry. As such, the kitsune statues are often seen with a key in their mouth, which is the key to the granary.
I studied the statues at the entrance for a spell (I'm fascinated by foxes and wolves and the like), then set off for the main draw of this shrine: the many torii gates.
Nobody told me I was getting myself into a 4km hike, a lot of which is uphill. These gates line almost the entire pathway; there are something like 10,000 in total, all of which were donated by companies (or individuals) who want good luck with their business. I think the biggest gates cost something in the region of ￥1,000,000.
Also, along the track there are a lot of little complexes of "mini-shrines" (they have a proper name, I'm not sure what it is though) and graveyards, all decorated beautifully, and with lots of fox statues. There were also a lot of spider webs, home to some very cool looking black and yellow spiders.
The entire track took me about 2 hours, I guess (I didn't time it), and needless to say I was VERY grateful for the vending machine at the top of the hill.
I had planned to visit one more temple, Sanjusangendo, which is home to 1001 buddha statues in 33 bays along the corridor (hence the name, San-ju-san is 33 in Japanese); but by the time I was finished at Fushimi Inari it was too late.
I navigated my way through more narrow streets (I've grown much more confidant in cycling on the road with cars now, though I have a couple of "cycling roads" that I prefer to use when I can), and settled in to the hostel for some much needed rest.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Day 9 (Thursday 14th Oct, 2010)
Today I decided to go to one of the more popular sights in Kyoto: Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavillion. This is perhaps the second most famous, most photographed sight in Japan, after only Mt. Fuji.
I also saw that I could stop at Nishijin Textile Centre on the way; which is highly lauded by all the travel books. So I thought it would be worth stopping by even though I'm not really interested in textiles.
It actually turned out to be really interesting and fun. For the most it's a shop selling kimono, fabric and other such items, but it also serves as a bit of a museum.
They have a selection of different hand looms on display, with information boards explaining how they work etc.
On the third floor, you can actually go and watch people weaving the thread. This is the most incredible part: you can see why these Japanese textiles are so expensive, and sought after. The amount of focus, and time, and care, and effort that goes into making them is beyond comprehension.
I was about to leave, then I heard an announcement for a "Kimono Fashion Show in ten minutes," so I thought I had to stay and watch this.
The kimono on display were really beautiful; so were the girls wearing them...
I left the Textile Centre and set off in the direction of my main sight for the day, Kinkaku-ji.
The ride their got a bit uphill-y, and I guess after a week of almost constant cycling and walking my legs were getting a bit worn out, because it got quite hard going, even though it wasn't that steep.
I was rather hungry by the time I got to the temple, but I couldn't find anywhere to eat. There was an ice cream (soft cream in Japan) parlour though, so I settled for an ice cream to keep me going.
Inside, the temple was fairly crowded, but it wasn't too bad. Being a Thursday afternoon, there were a LOT of school children. Obviously, they realize that there will be a lot of foreign, English-speaking tourists there, so all the students bring their English workbooks with an exercise to interview an English-speaking person.
I got approached for an interview, it was fairly basic of course. "What's your name, where are you from, where have you been in Japan" etc. It was fun though, and afterwards the boy (Shuhei Ando was his name, and probably still is) gave me a gift: a bookmark he'd made, which has some pictures and says "Enjoy your stay in Japan!". So cute!
Throughout the rest of the day all the kids were fascinated by me; I think a lot of them probably have only seen foreigners on TV before (they were all from outside of Kyoto as well, probably small cities). I wish their teachers were as fascinated by me! Yeah, every class seemed to have a very hot teacher (cue Van Halen).
The golden pavillion itself was quite impressive, more-so than it looks in pictures. The rest of the temple was lovely; a nice stroll through a garden with waterfalls and other nice features, and small Japanese children staring at you, and some bold ones saying "Herro!" and then getting really hype when you say "Hello" back.
At the gift shop I finally found a really nice deck of playing cards. I collect decks of cards, and I try to get at least one pack from everywhere I go; I try to go for slightly more unique ones though, rather than the usual "generic back with photos of the popular sights on the faces" when I can find them. I found a nice pack of Ukiyo-e deck, which has a different Ukiyo-e figure on each card. They were a bit on the expensive side (￥1500) but I didn't know when/if I'd find another deck so nice, so I bought them.
After Kinkaku-ji, I set off to the next stop, Ryoan-ji, which has one of the more famous Zen rock gardens in the world.
As usual, I got lost, and as usual, it led to a cool discovery. This time it was a little independant video game store. It sold the usual selection of PS3/PS2/PSP/DS etc games, but also... Famicom and Super Famicom games! (for the non-gamers, Famicom/Super Famicom are the first two console made by Nintendo, which were HUGELY popular from about '85-'95. They had a slew of good games; and original cartridges are kind of hard to find these days and sought after by collectors. I'm not a collector, but it's still cool to see this stuff.)
They had, for example, an original Japanese Tetris cartridge, one of the most well known games in the world, I think.
I didn't buy anything there, but it was cool to look at what they have.
I found my bearings again, and got to Ryoan-ji. In a vending machine outside I found a drink calling itself "Protein Water." Of course I had to try it! It was really nice, I don't know how to describe the flavour; but for something that calls itself "protein water" it only has 1.7g of protein.
Honestly, the zen garden itself was not that great. After I pondered the garden for a while, I managed to see a rabbit lying down, and a badger standing up wearing a monks robes. It is interesting the way your view of something changes when you stare at it long enough.
Once again, the garden was really nice, and good for a leisurely stroll through.
Ryoan-ji was nice, but not a must-see, in my opinion.
I also saw that I could stop at Nishijin Textile Centre on the way; which is highly lauded by all the travel books. So I thought it would be worth stopping by even though I'm not really interested in textiles.
It actually turned out to be really interesting and fun. For the most it's a shop selling kimono, fabric and other such items, but it also serves as a bit of a museum.
They have a selection of different hand looms on display, with information boards explaining how they work etc.
On the third floor, you can actually go and watch people weaving the thread. This is the most incredible part: you can see why these Japanese textiles are so expensive, and sought after. The amount of focus, and time, and care, and effort that goes into making them is beyond comprehension.
I was about to leave, then I heard an announcement for a "Kimono Fashion Show in ten minutes," so I thought I had to stay and watch this.
The kimono on display were really beautiful; so were the girls wearing them...
I left the Textile Centre and set off in the direction of my main sight for the day, Kinkaku-ji.
The ride their got a bit uphill-y, and I guess after a week of almost constant cycling and walking my legs were getting a bit worn out, because it got quite hard going, even though it wasn't that steep.
I was rather hungry by the time I got to the temple, but I couldn't find anywhere to eat. There was an ice cream (soft cream in Japan) parlour though, so I settled for an ice cream to keep me going.
Inside, the temple was fairly crowded, but it wasn't too bad. Being a Thursday afternoon, there were a LOT of school children. Obviously, they realize that there will be a lot of foreign, English-speaking tourists there, so all the students bring their English workbooks with an exercise to interview an English-speaking person.
I got approached for an interview, it was fairly basic of course. "What's your name, where are you from, where have you been in Japan" etc. It was fun though, and afterwards the boy (Shuhei Ando was his name, and probably still is) gave me a gift: a bookmark he'd made, which has some pictures and says "Enjoy your stay in Japan!". So cute!
Throughout the rest of the day all the kids were fascinated by me; I think a lot of them probably have only seen foreigners on TV before (they were all from outside of Kyoto as well, probably small cities). I wish their teachers were as fascinated by me! Yeah, every class seemed to have a very hot teacher (cue Van Halen).
The golden pavillion itself was quite impressive, more-so than it looks in pictures. The rest of the temple was lovely; a nice stroll through a garden with waterfalls and other nice features, and small Japanese children staring at you, and some bold ones saying "Herro!" and then getting really hype when you say "Hello" back.
At the gift shop I finally found a really nice deck of playing cards. I collect decks of cards, and I try to get at least one pack from everywhere I go; I try to go for slightly more unique ones though, rather than the usual "generic back with photos of the popular sights on the faces" when I can find them. I found a nice pack of Ukiyo-e deck, which has a different Ukiyo-e figure on each card. They were a bit on the expensive side (￥1500) but I didn't know when/if I'd find another deck so nice, so I bought them.
After Kinkaku-ji, I set off to the next stop, Ryoan-ji, which has one of the more famous Zen rock gardens in the world.
As usual, I got lost, and as usual, it led to a cool discovery. This time it was a little independant video game store. It sold the usual selection of PS3/PS2/PSP/DS etc games, but also... Famicom and Super Famicom games! (for the non-gamers, Famicom/Super Famicom are the first two console made by Nintendo, which were HUGELY popular from about '85-'95. They had a slew of good games; and original cartridges are kind of hard to find these days and sought after by collectors. I'm not a collector, but it's still cool to see this stuff.)
They had, for example, an original Japanese Tetris cartridge, one of the most well known games in the world, I think.
I didn't buy anything there, but it was cool to look at what they have.
I found my bearings again, and got to Ryoan-ji. In a vending machine outside I found a drink calling itself "Protein Water." Of course I had to try it! It was really nice, I don't know how to describe the flavour; but for something that calls itself "protein water" it only has 1.7g of protein.
Honestly, the zen garden itself was not that great. After I pondered the garden for a while, I managed to see a rabbit lying down, and a badger standing up wearing a monks robes. It is interesting the way your view of something changes when you stare at it long enough.
Once again, the garden was really nice, and good for a leisurely stroll through.
Ryoan-ji was nice, but not a must-see, in my opinion.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Day 8 (Wednesday 13th Oct, 2010)
Last night I planned a route for today, for a bit of a "Bakumatsu Tour".
A bit of a history lesson: The Bakumatsu is the name the Japanese have given to the turbulent end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, commonly referred to in English as the "Meiji Restoration".
Japan had been closed off to the rest of the world, aside from very limited trade, by the Shogunate; as a result, the country was weak.
A man by the name of Sakamoto Ryoma was tired of this government, and saw them as corrupt; and was inspired by the American's belief of "All men are created equal".
He orchestrated what he intended to be a "bloodless revolution", but it in fact turned out to be one of the most violent periods in Japan's history.
On the other side was a very strong, very fierce group of Shogunate loyalists called "Shinsengumi", who were dedicated to the protection of the Shogun, and keeping the peace in Kyoto, the centre of the revolution.
So basically, today I was going around Kyoto visiting various sights related to this period of history.
I started with Mibu-dera, the temple where the Shinsengumi were formed and resided in the beginning. I was surprised at how small it is. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the statue of Kondo Isami, leader and founder of Shinsengumi, which I'd been led to believe was in the garden of this temple. I'll find out more, and go search for it again.
After this is it was a reasonably long ride to the next stop, a statue of Katsura Kogoro. He was the leader of the Choshu clan, and was a key figure in orchestrating the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
It actually took me a while to find the statue; it's kind of just chilling in front of an office building. As a bonus from not be able to find it, I also got to admire the unrelated, but impressive Kyoto City Hall.
A short ride south from there found me at the location of the assassination of Sakamoto Ryoma (and his friend Nakaoka Shintaro). Sakamoto was killed on the spot; Nakaoka lived for two days before succumbing to wounds from the fight, but he wasn't able to identify the assassins.
It's really quite strange; as with the statue of Katsura Kogoro, the monument for this historic site has just held its place while the city develops around it. The monument now stands in front of a convenience store.
After seeing this site, I went east to Maruyama Koen, a very nice park area in the eastern side of Kyoto.
I'm starting to learn my lesson about cycling in Kyoto, and that's that depending on where you're going, it can be VERY hard to find a bike parking. I wandered about for at least half an hour before I found one.
There are a few temples and shrines and the like in Maruyama Koen; but as today was a Bakumatsu Tour, I had a focus: the statues of Ryoma and Shintaro that are located in the park.
After admiring the statues, and also taking in the park itself (and enjoying some tempura udon), I set off for the next stop: the grave of Ryoma and Shintaro.
It proved difficult to find, but eventually I got there.
The entry fee to the graveyard was ￥300, which I was willing to pay because I had to visit the grave. As well as Ryoma/Shintaro, there are also hundreds (thousands?) of other graves of members of the revolution.
I wasn't expecting to find fresh flowers, and other gifts, decorating Ryoma's grave. I guess even 150 years later, the people of Japan still revere this visionary.
I watched some others pay their respects, before I put a lucky Goen (5 yen) piece in the box and paid my own respects. If not for him, perhaps I would not be able to visit this amazing country.
Buy now it was getting late, so I set off towards the last stop on today's pilgrimage: Ikedaya.
Ikedaya was an inn which is famous for being the scene of one of Shinsengumi's most crushing victories over the rebels.
The rebels were staying at this inn, and had a plan to burn the entire city of Kyoto to the ground. Shinsengumi found out about this, and stormed the building and routed the rebel force inside. Almost overnight they became heroes for saving the city; prior to this they were somewhat feared due to the actions of some members abusing their power (who were subsequently killed, and a set of strict regulations for members was drawn up).
For many years this famous location has been home to nothing but a crappy pachinko parlour (which a memorial stone and information sign outside the front), but about 2 years ago or so someone bought the location and turned it into a Shinsengumi themed restaurant, called "Ikedaya" of course!
It was a very nice place; I was sort of expecting a little izakaya type place with some themed decor, but its a very nice restaurant, with said themed decor. All the staff wear Shinsengumi uniforms (which can be bought from any souvenir shop for about $30), and all the placemats/menu/chopstick holder etc are decorated in this theme.
They even have a selection of cocktails, which are named after members of the Shinsengumi!
The food was more expensive than I was expecting (though not expensive, really; ￥1500-2000 for a meal), and I was running low on cash, so I just had some sashimi and German sausage appetisers (odd combo?) and of course, one of these cocktails. I chose Souji Okita, who is perhaps my favourite figure in the group.
The food was good, the atmosphere was great, the cocktail was really nice too.
I'll definitely be back here again before I leave, for a proper meal.
A bit of a history lesson: The Bakumatsu is the name the Japanese have given to the turbulent end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, commonly referred to in English as the "Meiji Restoration".
Japan had been closed off to the rest of the world, aside from very limited trade, by the Shogunate; as a result, the country was weak.
A man by the name of Sakamoto Ryoma was tired of this government, and saw them as corrupt; and was inspired by the American's belief of "All men are created equal".
He orchestrated what he intended to be a "bloodless revolution", but it in fact turned out to be one of the most violent periods in Japan's history.
On the other side was a very strong, very fierce group of Shogunate loyalists called "Shinsengumi", who were dedicated to the protection of the Shogun, and keeping the peace in Kyoto, the centre of the revolution.
So basically, today I was going around Kyoto visiting various sights related to this period of history.
I started with Mibu-dera, the temple where the Shinsengumi were formed and resided in the beginning. I was surprised at how small it is. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the statue of Kondo Isami, leader and founder of Shinsengumi, which I'd been led to believe was in the garden of this temple. I'll find out more, and go search for it again.
After this is it was a reasonably long ride to the next stop, a statue of Katsura Kogoro. He was the leader of the Choshu clan, and was a key figure in orchestrating the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
It actually took me a while to find the statue; it's kind of just chilling in front of an office building. As a bonus from not be able to find it, I also got to admire the unrelated, but impressive Kyoto City Hall.
A short ride south from there found me at the location of the assassination of Sakamoto Ryoma (and his friend Nakaoka Shintaro). Sakamoto was killed on the spot; Nakaoka lived for two days before succumbing to wounds from the fight, but he wasn't able to identify the assassins.
It's really quite strange; as with the statue of Katsura Kogoro, the monument for this historic site has just held its place while the city develops around it. The monument now stands in front of a convenience store.
After seeing this site, I went east to Maruyama Koen, a very nice park area in the eastern side of Kyoto.
I'm starting to learn my lesson about cycling in Kyoto, and that's that depending on where you're going, it can be VERY hard to find a bike parking. I wandered about for at least half an hour before I found one.
There are a few temples and shrines and the like in Maruyama Koen; but as today was a Bakumatsu Tour, I had a focus: the statues of Ryoma and Shintaro that are located in the park.
After admiring the statues, and also taking in the park itself (and enjoying some tempura udon), I set off for the next stop: the grave of Ryoma and Shintaro.
It proved difficult to find, but eventually I got there.
The entry fee to the graveyard was ￥300, which I was willing to pay because I had to visit the grave. As well as Ryoma/Shintaro, there are also hundreds (thousands?) of other graves of members of the revolution.
I wasn't expecting to find fresh flowers, and other gifts, decorating Ryoma's grave. I guess even 150 years later, the people of Japan still revere this visionary.
I watched some others pay their respects, before I put a lucky Goen (5 yen) piece in the box and paid my own respects. If not for him, perhaps I would not be able to visit this amazing country.
Buy now it was getting late, so I set off towards the last stop on today's pilgrimage: Ikedaya.
Ikedaya was an inn which is famous for being the scene of one of Shinsengumi's most crushing victories over the rebels.
The rebels were staying at this inn, and had a plan to burn the entire city of Kyoto to the ground. Shinsengumi found out about this, and stormed the building and routed the rebel force inside. Almost overnight they became heroes for saving the city; prior to this they were somewhat feared due to the actions of some members abusing their power (who were subsequently killed, and a set of strict regulations for members was drawn up).
For many years this famous location has been home to nothing but a crappy pachinko parlour (which a memorial stone and information sign outside the front), but about 2 years ago or so someone bought the location and turned it into a Shinsengumi themed restaurant, called "Ikedaya" of course!
It was a very nice place; I was sort of expecting a little izakaya type place with some themed decor, but its a very nice restaurant, with said themed decor. All the staff wear Shinsengumi uniforms (which can be bought from any souvenir shop for about $30), and all the placemats/menu/chopstick holder etc are decorated in this theme.
They even have a selection of cocktails, which are named after members of the Shinsengumi!
The food was more expensive than I was expecting (though not expensive, really; ￥1500-2000 for a meal), and I was running low on cash, so I just had some sashimi and German sausage appetisers (odd combo?) and of course, one of these cocktails. I chose Souji Okita, who is perhaps my favourite figure in the group.
The food was good, the atmosphere was great, the cocktail was really nice too.
I'll definitely be back here again before I leave, for a proper meal.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Day 7 (Tuesday 12th Oct, 2010)
After a busy day of running about in Nara yesterday, I decided to take it a bit easy today.
I went to Downtown Kyoto to go shopping, and somehow got lost on my way there even though I've been there before. Getting lost *always* results in interesting discoveries though, and I found about the greatness of Oike-dori. These is a fairly large main street running east-west, and it's great for cycling. The footpath is unusually wide, and is paved with some sort of marble-like stone.
There are also lots of bike parks every block or so, so it's a good place to park if you can't find a legal parking area nearer to where you're going.
The openness of the footpath though just makes it great to fly along.
Eventually I found my way back to the northern end of Teramachi-dori, which is a large shopping arcade very popular with local youth and tourists alike. I parked my bike somewhere that *looked* legal; there were no "No Parking" signs, and a few other bikes, so I thought it would be okay. Then I went into Teramachi-dori.
Unfortunately, most of the clothing shops here are fairly expensive. I did however find a few that were reasonably priced, but I didn't buy anything yet. I'll save my shopping for the end of the trip when I know how much money I have left over.
I also found a large second-hand clothing store, which is very rare in Japan because people here see buying second-hand stuff as bad luck. There was actually a lot of nice stuff in there, and for good prices (not Australian op-shop prices though!)
After a bit of window shopping I went back to check on my bike, because I wasn't sure of the legality of the parking area; and it turns out I wasn't allowed to park there.
I didn't get a fine, and I didn't get the bike taken away though, which was lucky!
All there was was a note saying that you can't park here, with a map showing all the bicycle parks in the area. Very helpful! I didn't want to pay for parking, but there were no other options.
Now was another test: learn how to use a Japanese automatic bike parking machine.
I figured it out by watching someone else; and it couldn't be easier.
There are these little metal tracks just wide enough for a bike wheel, which you ride your front wheel into. At the end, the track locks the wheel in place.
Each track is numbered, and when you're finished you just type the number into the pay machine, it tells you how much you owe, you pay it, and your bike unlocks. Too easy.
I went to my favourite place (a-cho, the arcade), hoping that it would be quiet before the afternoon and I could get some Guilty Gear practice in. My suspicions were correct; there were very few people there, and no one playing GG.
I haven't played in about a year, so I had to remember how to play, and all my combos that I used to use. First game, I lost to the first CPU opponent. Depressing.
The next couple of games I got fairly far through the opponent roster, and everything started coming back to me.
I got my basic ground strings back, and my Jam Loops (the character I play is called Jam, and she has a very strong "loop" in the corner; which basically means a series of attacks that can be repeated in one combo for lots of hurt), and started to practice some more tricky stuff that I used to be able to do, with varying levels of success.
After I'd had enough, I grabbed some lunch from (lol) KFC, where I saw a group of three REALLY FAT Aussie weeaboo girls and had to giggle; then I went back to being a tourist and went to Nijo Castle (Nijo-jo).
The castle itself is very different to most other Japanese castles (like Osaka-jo or Himeji-jo) in that its only one floor, and has lots of different buildings within a large piece of land. It's a bit more like a temple in that sense.
Inside the main building of the castle, I was VERY excited about walking on a real nightingale floor, after learning about them from the historical/fantasy novel "Across the Nightingale Floor" by Lian Hearn.
A nightingale floor is basically a wooden floor that is designed to creak when walked on, to make it hard/impossible for would-be assassins to sneak in without making a noise. I was surprised at how much the "squeaking" sounded like bird calls, rather than a regular creaky floor. Hence the name "nightingale floor". Of course, I tried to sneak across it, but was not successful.
The rest of the castle was fun; there was a high wall with steps to climb up to the top, obviously used at one point in time as a lookout point. Of course, because of this, the view over the city (and over the castle itself) was great.
After the castle I came back to the hostel for an early dinner, then went out to a shopping building called "Avanti", which as seems to be the Japanese norm is about 8 stories high, with a selection of different shops on each floor.
I was mainly going to see the bookshop on the 6th floor, but got distracted on the 5th by a discounted shoe store.
OH MY GOD. So many awesome sneakers; some regular Nike/Converse/Adidas etc, and some really cool stuff from brands I haven't heard of (local Japanese brands?). And so CHEAP! Nothing was over ￥5000, and most were in the region of ￥2000-3000. Some of the really cool local brands stuff were 2 pairs for ￥5000; and there were some VERY NICE moccasins for ￥5000.
But you know what? In Japan, I have clown feet. Size 30 feet in Japan are almost unheard of, so its almost impossible to find shoes that fit me. ARGH.
I went up to the bookshop, and looking mostly at the kids books and manga (because those are all I can read in Japanese!) I saw some cool stuff.
A Jap version of The Giving Tree! (without the scary picture of the author on the back). I might have to buy it. Couldn't find Where the Wild Things Are though.
I ended up buying the first volume of the Jap version of one of my favourite manga series, Eyeshield 21. It's about a high school American football team; and is very fun. Hopefully, reading it with the aid of a dictionary will help me learn more Japanese, and importantly, learn to read kanji.
Tonight, I came home and *didn't* get drunk! Wow!
I went to Downtown Kyoto to go shopping, and somehow got lost on my way there even though I've been there before. Getting lost *always* results in interesting discoveries though, and I found about the greatness of Oike-dori. These is a fairly large main street running east-west, and it's great for cycling. The footpath is unusually wide, and is paved with some sort of marble-like stone.
There are also lots of bike parks every block or so, so it's a good place to park if you can't find a legal parking area nearer to where you're going.
The openness of the footpath though just makes it great to fly along.
Eventually I found my way back to the northern end of Teramachi-dori, which is a large shopping arcade very popular with local youth and tourists alike. I parked my bike somewhere that *looked* legal; there were no "No Parking" signs, and a few other bikes, so I thought it would be okay. Then I went into Teramachi-dori.
Unfortunately, most of the clothing shops here are fairly expensive. I did however find a few that were reasonably priced, but I didn't buy anything yet. I'll save my shopping for the end of the trip when I know how much money I have left over.
I also found a large second-hand clothing store, which is very rare in Japan because people here see buying second-hand stuff as bad luck. There was actually a lot of nice stuff in there, and for good prices (not Australian op-shop prices though!)
After a bit of window shopping I went back to check on my bike, because I wasn't sure of the legality of the parking area; and it turns out I wasn't allowed to park there.
I didn't get a fine, and I didn't get the bike taken away though, which was lucky!
All there was was a note saying that you can't park here, with a map showing all the bicycle parks in the area. Very helpful! I didn't want to pay for parking, but there were no other options.
Now was another test: learn how to use a Japanese automatic bike parking machine.
I figured it out by watching someone else; and it couldn't be easier.
There are these little metal tracks just wide enough for a bike wheel, which you ride your front wheel into. At the end, the track locks the wheel in place.
Each track is numbered, and when you're finished you just type the number into the pay machine, it tells you how much you owe, you pay it, and your bike unlocks. Too easy.
I went to my favourite place (a-cho, the arcade), hoping that it would be quiet before the afternoon and I could get some Guilty Gear practice in. My suspicions were correct; there were very few people there, and no one playing GG.
I haven't played in about a year, so I had to remember how to play, and all my combos that I used to use. First game, I lost to the first CPU opponent. Depressing.
The next couple of games I got fairly far through the opponent roster, and everything started coming back to me.
I got my basic ground strings back, and my Jam Loops (the character I play is called Jam, and she has a very strong "loop" in the corner; which basically means a series of attacks that can be repeated in one combo for lots of hurt), and started to practice some more tricky stuff that I used to be able to do, with varying levels of success.
After I'd had enough, I grabbed some lunch from (lol) KFC, where I saw a group of three REALLY FAT Aussie weeaboo girls and had to giggle; then I went back to being a tourist and went to Nijo Castle (Nijo-jo).
The castle itself is very different to most other Japanese castles (like Osaka-jo or Himeji-jo) in that its only one floor, and has lots of different buildings within a large piece of land. It's a bit more like a temple in that sense.
Inside the main building of the castle, I was VERY excited about walking on a real nightingale floor, after learning about them from the historical/fantasy novel "Across the Nightingale Floor" by Lian Hearn.
A nightingale floor is basically a wooden floor that is designed to creak when walked on, to make it hard/impossible for would-be assassins to sneak in without making a noise. I was surprised at how much the "squeaking" sounded like bird calls, rather than a regular creaky floor. Hence the name "nightingale floor". Of course, I tried to sneak across it, but was not successful.
The rest of the castle was fun; there was a high wall with steps to climb up to the top, obviously used at one point in time as a lookout point. Of course, because of this, the view over the city (and over the castle itself) was great.
After the castle I came back to the hostel for an early dinner, then went out to a shopping building called "Avanti", which as seems to be the Japanese norm is about 8 stories high, with a selection of different shops on each floor.
I was mainly going to see the bookshop on the 6th floor, but got distracted on the 5th by a discounted shoe store.
OH MY GOD. So many awesome sneakers; some regular Nike/Converse/Adidas etc, and some really cool stuff from brands I haven't heard of (local Japanese brands?). And so CHEAP! Nothing was over ￥5000, and most were in the region of ￥2000-3000. Some of the really cool local brands stuff were 2 pairs for ￥5000; and there were some VERY NICE moccasins for ￥5000.
But you know what? In Japan, I have clown feet. Size 30 feet in Japan are almost unheard of, so its almost impossible to find shoes that fit me. ARGH.
I went up to the bookshop, and looking mostly at the kids books and manga (because those are all I can read in Japanese!) I saw some cool stuff.
A Jap version of The Giving Tree! (without the scary picture of the author on the back). I might have to buy it. Couldn't find Where the Wild Things Are though.
I ended up buying the first volume of the Jap version of one of my favourite manga series, Eyeshield 21. It's about a high school American football team; and is very fun. Hopefully, reading it with the aid of a dictionary will help me learn more Japanese, and importantly, learn to read kanji.
Tonight, I came home and *didn't* get drunk! Wow!
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