Kyoto Rocks!

Kyoto is hilly, Tokyo not so much. In general people seemed a little more used to talking with each other versus just heading to their destination as in Tokyo. Things are more spread out in Kyoto and of course the buildings aren't as high. Tokyo is a cool place as it truly seems that the city never sleeps, yet I like how Kyoto feels like a city suburb. I guess it's probably also due to the fact that I grew up in the suburbs and Chicago to me has always felt a little too compacted and just not enough personal space.

(Mt Fuji taken from the train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto)

In general though I prefer Japan's public transportation versus driving everywhere like I do back home.

I get to see more things as I move about, get exercise while doing it, and can think about whatever I choose while riding the train versus having to pay attention to the road. Plus it's just so easy and comfortable. Boo to the EL. People are often loud, seats aren't as comfortable and the stations are just dull and boring.

Now what the shell happened these past few days? Sit back and enjoy as this will probably be my last blog before my return home. I guess Ill say it from the start, just like last time I really don't want to leave. Japan is awesome!

The first thing we did in Kyoto was head to an elementary school in Hirakata fairly close to Kansai Gaidai and got to see elementary students as well as a group of two high school students and one college student perform taiko drums. After seeing them perform we also got to first take short lessons and then in groups of three create and perform our own songs. Kevin, Dan L. and I did pretty well but our rhythm got lost toward the end of the song.

Then after dropping our luggage off at the hotel which was near Kyoto's biggest train station we all went to the restaurant shopping arcade underneath the station. The place where people decided to eat didnt really have anything I could eat besides 600 yen pancakes or 600 yen toast so I decided to get a matcha parfait. It was really good. From there Dan W started the reoccuring joke of me only eating dessert for dinner. All in good fun. カルツォーネは日本にもあるよ！

(Calzone's are in Japan too!)

Afterwards we checked out a electronics store called Bic Camera where I bought a copy of oendan 2 for the DS today. I plan on playing it over the wireless with Nick at the airport.

The next day it was time for some visits to Buddhist temples. We started off with my favorite kyomizu dera. I have some good memories of going their with kansai gaidai pals. Actually the first time I met aya, yosuke, and shiochi we went to that shrine at night. Unfortunately the season wasn't exactly right for the visit but it was still fun to go back.

Macro that Flower! すげい！

anyways.....the next temple was sangen...... it's a very long name and i can't remember all of it but the temple has the longest wooden building and inside there are 1001 golden buddhist statues. Pretty cool stuff but the day we went it was pretty cold and I could have used one more layer of clothing.

The final shrine we went to was called kinkakuji or the golden pavillion. It has a really beautiful lake which goes around it and there were still some nice trees still with leaves remaining on the tree. Pretty much at the end of the path vendors were giving out free samples of yatsuhashi. Basically a type of mochi shaped like a triangle with the base being longer than the sides. Inside there is sweet red bean paste and the mochi can be different flavors. strawberry, green tea, regular.

One other fun note was that Matt didnt make it up the hill right away with everyone on the way to kyomizu dera so he decided to head back down and check on him. On his way back up Josh's head could be seen floating above vans that were trying to get down the hill. It was funny how he was towering above everything since he's so tall.

I still haven't had any Skal!!!!!!! Carbonated skim milk!!!!!! Hopefully tomorrow. Atleast I know I'll be trying a short Creme Brulee latte tomorrow morning after breakfast. It's Japan's holiday drink to replace Egg Nog at Starbucks.

After the temples we took a top a uemaza movie land. Basically a Samurai movie set theme park. Yet it was actually used to film samurai tv dramas and movies. There I had a naan bread pizza. Unfortunately it came with bacon and mushrooms. Somebody suggested to me to tell the waitress that I didnt know that it came with that, but I felt maybe I shouldn't because I didn't feel like making a big deal out of it. I sort of fell to peer pressure I guess/my inner voice wanting to try to use my Japanese so I ended up asking. My Japanese kinda failed during this point but they seemed happy to remake it for me. I'm glad I asked otherwise I would have been really hungry.

Irvin and Michelle played a shuriken throwing game and one some cardboard hitting sticks. aka cheap japanese fans I believe. Later Irvin, Dan W, Dan L, Lauren and I entered this samurai play show and others happened to show up for the show later as well. After a short little skit about a magic flute that some evil samurai were trying to steal, the actors began taking volunteers from the crowd to perform in a samurai duel.

Our group decided to volunteer Dan Loane to go up so we helped push his hand up into the air even though he didn't really seem to want to go at first since he knows very little Japanese. One of the samurai actors could actually speak english and a small Japanese girl went first so he had an example to follow. Basically the staged fight started off with a block and then a push off of the enemy. Then as the enemy charged forward the volunteer would do one final strike to finish him off. Finally the volunteer had to make a victory pose. Dan did really well and it was very funny to watch.

After that we viewed show where they showed us how a samurai drama was shot and how some of the sfx were done. For example for a arrow that shot out of a window it actually just flew on a preset invisible fish wire. Then when one samurai throws a small dagger at another samurai they both are holding the same knife so the one who gets attacked secretly pulls out the knife and pretends that he was hit in the arm with it. Fun show!

Later that night we headed to downtown kyoto. I wanted to go to the shopping area of teramachi and i kind of wish I would have suggested going there in the first place to look around but instead we basically just hung out in the Namco arcade for the night. I spent around 2,000yen on crane games, time crisis 3 and mario kart. Nick really got into this one 100 yen game where you scoop up gems that are going around in a circle and drop them onto a platform that's moving back and forth. The platform then pushes the gems into tiny bears and chickens. Anything that drops becomes yours. So he basically won hundreds of these plastic white and blue gems. It was fun times. There's all different types of things in these types of machines. Usually they have small pieces of candy instead of gems. Basically on the platforms there is a main piece that ur trying to make the scooped items push off the edge and if the main piece gets pushed off the edge by the main pieces a huge amount of candy or small toys pours out of the machine. The best way to play these games is with a group of friends. You take turns putting in 100 yen coins and then share the loot once you finally hit the jackpot. These machines are usually pretty fair and winnable. There's skill involved as you have to time both the scoop into moat of loot and then the drop of the loot onto the platform.

We took a break and went for some japanese food. I ordered goma tofu. Black soybeans inside a really tasty piece of tofu. I also decided to split an order of yaki onigiri with Nick. I though they were just going to be plain but they ended up having something inside. I tasted it and then decided to ask the waitress. When I asked if there was antying inside of the onigiri she at first said know but then I showed it to her. She was pretty cute and smiled very surprised when she saw there was something in the onigiri. She told me she was going to go and ask and be right back. She came back and said that there was ume boshi and katsuo (pickled plum and a type of fish) inside. I like umeboshi but the fist was too much for me so I ended up not eating it. Long story short it's really fun when you can bring up a conversation with a Japanese person especially someone you don't know and have it natural enough where they smile or laugh.

Back at the arcade Dan W won a giant pink santa hat wearing micorganism that looks like an octopus that always has a huge grin on his face yet only 6 legs.

Next day was kimono wearing day. Before that a small group went out to visit the three Nintendo buidlings in Kyoto. Two are still being used but one of them was the old building back from there Trading card making days before there was Mario.

I enjoyed putting on the kimono. I felt like a true samurai. The only thing I was missing was my kantana. I've learned that officially putting on a kimono by yourself is pretty much impossible, yet it was very comfortable to wear. We also learned a traditional japanese dance. Off the top of my head though I can't remember the name. We did all of this inside someone's home.

Next we headed to shabu shabu. Giant pot of boiling water where various vegetables, tofu, and mochi is placed. I cooked a small bit for myself before people started shabuing in the meat. There's a really tasty peanut sauce to dip the food into. Just like with salsa and tomato sauce ocassionally I just ate the peanut sauce by itself. I also munched on some uncooked veggies and tofu. At the end of dinner people started high fiving for mcflurries. I joined in on the fun but decided later to get a choco kinako mochi parfait from the Heart In konbini on the way back to the hotel.

One more day to blog about. That's all that remains.