Day 4: "What was the last cargo we snuck past the Alliance to transport?""That was--""What was the cargo?""...They were dolls.""They were little geisha dolls with big heads that wobbled!""Hey, people LOVE those!"

Wednesday Ben was in the lead. In the morning he took us to see the Kyoto Budo Center, where various martial arts schools, groups, and circles go to practice, do demonstrations, or hold their tests/promotions. The grounds were quiet, but not empty--a couple of cars were going in and out. We didn't enter the building, but through the front doors we could see the enormous practice room inside. There was actually a group inside, women of various ages practicing naginatajutsu, a Japanese polearm martial art (which happens to be studied predominantly by women these days.)

On the way to the Kampo Museum (of calligraphy), we made several pit-stops. First was at the Kyoto Handicrafts Center, another building with 7 stories of awesomeness. It's almost as if a museum were made into a shop. One of the floors is "by reservation only"--it's actually a classroom, for groups to come and do workshops probably. Most of the floors have displays of various traditional Japanese and specifically Kyoto-based crafts: swords, fans, statuettes, damascene and cloisonne, wood block printing, sumi-e paintings, kimono, dolls, and ceramics. A couple of the shops also sold kitschy Japanese souvenirs, but even those were very fun.

Robert found his "ichiban" headband there--they also had "dragon" and "success for exams", or something of the like. I, uh, impulse-bought a solar maiko. It wasn't expensive or anything...and very kitch. Little sun-powered wobbly-headed apprentice geisha doll. The handicrafts center is a really fun place to go, even if it's just to look around and admire the work. And drool over the hideously expensive but devastatingly beautiful wedding and vintage kimono. Also, it's duty free when you bring your passport.

Just across and down the street from the Handicrafts Center is a martial arts supply and sword shop. They have some gi,  supplies for schools and groups, and some really expensive swords and samurai armor replicas. Robert bought a new top and hakama for Iaido. I wanted very badly to buy one of the umbrellas they were selling, but they were a little too expensive. Black umbrellas with katana tsuka as the handles are exceedingly geeky, but awesome at the same time. I'm just hoping to pick up a pretty umbrella somewhere in the range of 500-1000 yen though...Instead of 6000 yen.

We also passed and took a peek at the Heian-Jingu shrine on the way to the museum. It had begun to rain a little, so everyone visiting there had out umbrellas. Good thing we brought the ones we borrowed from the guesthouse, because it was raining harder by the time we reached the Kampo museum.

The museum has a great collection of Kampo Harada's calligraphy work, basically. Master Kampo founded the Japan Calligraphy Education Foundation, and so is very responsible for the preservation of calligraphy in today's Japanese education system. What's really interesting about Kampo is that he's considered a father of calligraphy, even though he's a modern figure (1912-1995.) It's also probably the reason this museum allows pictures: all the work was done in the last 50 years or so, and preservation isn't a huge concern yet. Although, they keep small glasses of water in the display cases to moderate humidity I think...Several of the pieces on the scrolls are actually replications of ancient Chinese calligraphy that was carved onto large stone slabs.

This was a really HUGE inkstone. For a REALLY big brush. Love the entwined dragon carvings.

A portrait of Master Kampo--it doesn't quite do his beard justice, though.

We actually stopped in at Heian-Jingu on the way back, and learned the how to properly cleanse one's spirit (and literally one's hand), at a shrine. The entire shrine is actually a two-thirds scale replica of the Imperial Court Palace from the Heian period, and was built to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto.


Afterwards we feasted at a ramen and friend chicken place. I ordered just the fried chicken, because Ben told us we had to eat everything, even though it was a big meal, because the server didn't think we could do it. Everything was delicious, but no one really needed to eat for the rest of the day...Yeah, that rumor that portions are smaller in Japan...It really does depend on where you go. Many of the restaurants and holes-in-the-wall places we ate at actually served decently-sized portions. Although you are expected to finish everything; there's no such thing as taking home leftovers in Japan. Also, eating large pieces of friend chicken with chopsticks is very awkward, but you don't really have a choice unless you bring your own napkins--Japan doesn't really do the napkin thing either. Just some restaurants will provide moist towelettes to wipe your hands before eating.

I think there was some serous mental preparation for this meal...

Gion, Take 2:
After that enormous meal, Gerry, Robert, and I took a bus to Yasaka-Jinja, the guardian shrine of Gion, to walk off all that fried goodness. Yasaka-Jinja was pretty busy as well, even with it raining on and off all day. Part of it, I suppose, besides the nearby shopping district, is Maruyama-kouen (koen being the suffix for "park".)

 Maruyama-kouen is a gorgeous place, with several sakura groves, stone paths, streams, and a carp pond. That day it wasn't too crowded--it can apparently get really packed during hanami season, but the sakura was only just beginning to bloom in some places. After a nice muddy wandering around, we headed back towards the guesthouse, even though it was the middle of the afternoon, and prayed for better weather for next few days. (Ok, part of the reason we left early was because the damp weather broke our souvenir bag and Robert was having to carry around quite a bit in his arms.) We also went to sleep pretty early that evening...I don't know whether to blame it on jet lag or the rain. Maybe both.

And this is the centerpiece shidarezakura, or weeping cherry tree

Excusemimasen again

So for some reason that last post is really funky, as in I can't properly edit it on here. So, please forgive any funkiness of ze last post. I'm just tired of copy-pasting, changing, and reposting it just to find something else wrong with it....eehhhhhh....

Day 3: Gion, Take 1, and Eine Klein Nachtmusik

Last Tuesday began with one of several attempts to go see Gion, an area very near Shijo (of the wonderous Wonder Tower and nightlight) which is famous for geisha, maiko, and teahouses in Kyoto. Robert and I got on the wrong bus line and sat for a while until I was pretty sure we should have passed Gion. When I asked a lady about it, and she talked to the bus driver, we discovered which line we needed to have rode, and the driver was kind enough to return our fare to use for the other bus. By then, it was nearing the time to meet Gerry at Nijojo castle, so we decided instead to head in that direction.

The construction of Nijojo--the last "jo" being the suffix for castle, like -tera and -in are suffixes for temples, and -ji is a counter for temples, and -jinja is a suffix for Shinto shrines--began in 1603, under the first Tokogawa Shogun Ieyasu. Itty bitty abbreviated history lesson. The castle was completed in 1626 under Iemitsu, the third Tokogawa shogun, and is a prime examples of early Edo design. Most of the walls are covered in murals, several with gold leaf, depicting landscapes or nature scenes. Lot of peacock and eagle imagery.

The ceilings are adorned mostly with elaborate floral and geometric patterns. They also have mannequins in many of the main rooms, showing where the shogun, the first lady-in-waiting, and so on, would have sat.

Historical murals aside, the most fascinating thing in Nijojo is the nightingale floors, or uguisubari, which were built as security devices against ninjas and sneaky pirates with cat-like tread. It's a very bizarre experience to walk on these, because it doesn't feel like the floorboards are creaking under you. With a ton of tourists moving down the corridors, the floor was constantly chirping as well. The musical squeaks are created by nails rubbing against cramps under the floorboards, in response to pressure.

We also walked the Ninomaru and Seiryu-en gardens, making our way around the castle grounds, through sakura and ume groves before getting caught in the tourist trap.

The tourist trap consisted of an initial group of vendors in tents and then the souvenir shop. I might have purchased a beautiful and expensive peachy-pink sakura-colored scarf from one of the tent vendors. (The reason they were so expensive, besides the whole 100% silk thing and the complexity of the weave, was the fact the dyes used came from Kitayama cedar bark and leaves. Kitayama cedars grow in Keihoku, one of the mountainy outer-skirt areas of Kyoto. Robert bought a couple of scrolls and a pouch from another tent vendor, and I guess he spent enough that the lady threw in a free card-carrier walletish thing.
Then we were viciously lured into the souvenir shop.
Actually, I was just curious. In addition to specifically Nijojo-oriented souvenirs, they also sold a lot of the usual and traditional Japanese kiosk gifts: fans, postcards, handkerchiefs, cell phone charms. I couldn't help myself. It was so cute. I bought a charm of Stitch dressed up like a maiko, but what tickled me the most was the lady behind the counter calling it "Maiko-san". There's a lot of Stitch merchandise here in Japan. Some is from Lilo & Stitch, and some is from that spin-off tv show--there are a few charms of the pink feminine experiment abomination. I'm not sure if its the character or the show that's more popular...

The shop also sold those white headbands you see guys putting on in anime when they're determined to study for an exam, and inevitably fail. No ichiban headband for Robert yet.     

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K

The trip back to the guesthouse was pretty eventful as well. Something was going on near the intersection outside Nijojo; a ton of traffic police were out in the huge intersection with their white uniforms. Hilariously, Kyoto traffic police also ride on Kawasaki Ninja motorcycles. There was some sort of banter between one of the officers and a biker waiting at our crosswalk. Don't think it was particularly witty, just very soulful and rhythmic. Something along the lines of:
"Hey, can we go yet?"
"No, sire, please do not cross yet."
"How about now?"
"Please be patient, sir."
"Oh, come on! I've got places to be!"
"Sir, I SAID please wait!"
A loose translation based only on tone, and zero verbal language.

Once Robert and I returned to the guesthouse, we figured out that we'd somehow just missed Gerry at the station outside Nijojo. We all went there, but he took a different exit from us, right when Robert wasn't making a round in that direction, and went in before us far enough ahead that we never ran into each other inside. I suppose he was sauntering along at the same leisurely pace as Robert and I were...

That night we were invited--through Ben--to one of his friend's small going-away party in her apartment. (She was also a ryuugakusei at our university, going back to China.)This was also a privilege it seems, because everyone but us was Asian...So we ate at Freshness Burger in Kitaoji station while Ben went to pick up gifts. The burger Gerry ordered was reported horrible, but the hot dogs Robert and I ordered weren't bad at all.
The party was tiny, kind of like the apartment--only the apartment was bigger than my old one when you count the loft-space. And the loft was where we hung out awkwardly while we waited for Ben's friend to return. (We think she forgot to tell the rest of the party that we were coming...) I got to meet my future roommate though, and she seemed cool and awesome. Ben's friend told us to call her Alpha, although I believe her real name was Wei...She was extremely cute. Said I was pretty...called Ben her "best husband" when they were bantering about whether they liked people for their looks or their hearts. Her gift was a Queen album, which she loved, and then we all laughed at the card he got her, when someone translated it out for us and it turned out to be an extremely sappy card and very near a marriage proposal.We did not wear out our welcome, thankfully, and left early enough in the night to still have some energy to go down the street to Operetta karaoke.
We sang, we yelled, we dramatically spoke lyrics for about three hours. The food and drinks were good. I had fun seeing what Japanese songs I knew were in the database, and even more fun trying to sing the ones I didn't know so well. (Turns out there are quite a few anime songs in the database, probably because many of them are sung by Japanese pop artists, not nobodies.) They had a pretty good selection of English music as well: Muse, Bowling for Soup, the Who, the Killers, Black-Eyed Peas, Journey, Michael Jackson,  Cyndi Lauper, Rick Astley, Toni Braxton...can you see where the night went?

Day 2: Lost, lost, lost...

Monday morning we were awakened by the dulcet tones of an advertisement car with loudspeakers, and the protests of a neighbor's dog. Its barking came out somewhere between screaming child tantrum and Tusken Raider battle cry. This wouldn't be the only morning we'd raise a sleepy brow, mumbling "Oh God, is something dying?" either. Very unsettling sound.

Jampan, however, is far more pleasant. Sweet bread with jam in the middle. Jam. Pan. (Or more literally, Janpan, but the sounds are indistinguishable in Japanese. Nice pun though.) I prefer the ichigo-flavored ones, but they also have ones with red bean paste in the middle. My experience with Japanese pastries is off to an excellent start.
 
Our second temple visit was Daitoku-ji, which was closest one; a short couple of blocks from the guesthouse in fact. Most of the sub-temples inside were actually closed to tourists, but many of the Japanese went inside past the no-entry signs anyway. I think they were actually paying their respects, as opposed to sightseeing, though...We still got to see most of the area, even some of the sub-temples closed off. There are a few beautiful gardens, a graveyard, and some tea houses, I think.

Koto-in, a smallish sub-temple we actually could enter, is a zen temple, with a tea house, a zen garden, several old art pieces (scrolls, paintings), and the gravesite of Lord Hosokawa and his wife, the patrons of this temple. One side of the temple was open to the outside, similar to a porch; a few small groups of people were sitting, snacking, having tea, or just meditating.





Speaking of meditating, we passed a group of older tourists, one of whom was trying to explain meditation to another, the latter who mulishly insisted "Well I didn't feel a thing!" when he had tried it. Kind of amusing. I got my second seal/signature in my nokyo-cho when the lady at admissions signed it as well.

 This stepping stone in the garden had an upside-down-face. Or maybe a downside-up face...

On the way back to the guesthouse we stopped by a couple of stores just outside Daitokuji. The first sold very expensive Japanese antiques, but there was a beautiful porcelain Kitsune statue, a fox-spirit curled up in a yukata. The second shop was much more amiable to our wallets, and the middle-aged ladies who ran it proved to have an exceptional sense of humor. When Robert tried on one of the happi coats, which was absolutely enormous on him, one held out the coat, looked him up and down, then joked "Please eat more? Like sumo." Had ourselves some good laughs out of that one. Robert bought a tiger (his chinese zodiac) netsuke from them, and I got a netsuke of a dragon with a tiger. When the ladies struggled with threading the cord through the netsuke, I had another tiny moment of satisfaction knowing how to tell them that it was ok and not to worry about it. (Neither of us are inclined to use these as cell-phone charms anyways, just trinkets.)

 Some beautifully faded soda advertisements on the way back to the guesthouse...

And a small shrine/temple we passed by as well...

The sign says it all.

That evening we were supposed to meet Ben at Kamigamo shrine, near the university. First, we headed towards the wrong university, mostly because I was silly enough to leave the correct directions at the guesthouse.
Our next mistake was not taking the bus once we'd asked someone for directions. The pain of walking hilly streets for three or four hours in 2-inch heels doesn't leave your feet for about three days. (I don't care how much Ben says Japan is all about the suffering and enduring, it is never normal for a woman to walk, straight walk, for so many hours in heels. You bring walking shoes for that sort of thing. But then I wasn't expecting to get lost for so long.)

 If only getting lost was always this scenic

We ran into another shrine along the way, but after a while we decided to turn back. We ended up walking all the way back to the guesthouse, too--
or I mostly walked and piggy-backed Robert a couple of times along the way. All the taxis that passed us just zoomed right past us before we had a chance to wave them over.




This, however was really the highlight of that misadventure, and it's definitely the strangest thing I have seen thus far in Japan.

 Yes, ladies and gents, it's a Hello Kitty gravestone for sale. (There were some other beloved cartoon character tombstones as well, but Hello Kitty really just stuck out. I can't imagine why...)

So, it turns out that we were actually almost at Kamigamo shrine when we turned around.

I didn't really want to walk. Ever. Again. But we decided to meet up with Ben for realsies, a went to a nice place downtown, where I tried a tasty beverage mixed with matcha. So, the night ended on a significantly better note than I had been expecting. Luckily, walking for so long in heels is truly the worst thing that's happened to me here yet. Which is great...
I think.

The night of the day after the Very Longest Day (Confused yet?)

Sunday night we ventured to Sanjo with Ben-san via subway and walked around a bit. Sanjo-dori is a street in the downtown area somewhere in or around the nightlife district, where people go to party. The streets were pretty packed, mostly with young folk, especially newly graduated young folk. We saw one such lad being part dragged, part carried, down the sidewalk by his steadfast and sober companions. Well, they were sober enough to be the designated-walkers, in any case.

After some indecisive meandering, Ben left us to our own devices and went home to sleep. We immediately stepped into the nearest restaurant, a cozy little ramen place. And then we proceeded to take a good long time figuring out what parts of the menu said and which meals looked good in the pictures on the menu. Robert and I ordered the same thing, ramen with chicken. Gerry wasn't very hungry, so he went for something smaller; the server probably though Gerry was weird for ordering a side-dish even after they asked "Just this?" Ramen, real ramen, is not at all like the packaged noodles and salty powder you can get for about 20 cents back in the States. (Although it holds a dear place in the heart of my palate, and I've kind of been craving extremely cheap, albeit salt-watery, partial-meals.) The broth is thicker and creamier, similar to Campbell's cream of chicken soup, in terms of consistency. It also came with small slabs of chicken which I compulsively broke into smaller pieces so I could enjoy it throughout the course of the ramen-consumption.
On another note, related only by Campbell's soup, there's a hilarious magnet on the guesthouse fridge which replaces Campbell's with "Eatery", and the soup name with "Miso Horny Sushi". It whas very funny.

After we gochisosama deshita-ed and paid, we ventured back out onto the streets. Next we explored the Wonder Tower. Not really much of a tower, just seven floors of games: a couple of stories in the middle are for gambling, but the rest are devoted to arcade games and claw machines.

**Photo courtesy of Robert

Mission accomplished: play DDR in a Japanese arcade
The second floor had a DDR machine. It had a good number of selections from every edition of DDR, I think. Being a creature of habit, I stuck with mostly DDR Max 2 songs: Destiny, I feel..., Dive. And Butterfly. Mochiron. (I couldn't find any Breakdown, which was sad-making. But then I probably wasn't looking hard enough.)

We went up another couple of floors to ze video games. Robert and Gerry played a few rounds of Tekken 6. (I don't know all that much about Tekken, but the stages are pretty impressive.) There was also this MMO-RPG arcade game, Shining Force Cross by Sega. It's very Square-Enix-looking, but not. The new Square-Enix game which was in Wonder Tower's arcade is called Lord of Vermillion II, which is actually a collectible card game. Imagine playing Magic the Gathering on an arcade game.

A little bit before midnight, we finally started heading back towards the subway station. Unbeknownst to our intrepid travelers, the eki closes down at midnight; we arrived just as they were starting to shut things down. Oh crap. Hilarity ensued as we tried walking to another station in the hopes that it was only one closing down. Yes, we were that naive and hopeful. We stared at maps, went in the wrong direction, then the right direction, and eventually flagged down a taxi, only to be embarrassed trying to explain where we wanted him to drop us off. We asked for Daitokuji, a temple only a couple of streets over from the guesthouse, but then he asked us where in particular around the temple grounds. We mumbled for a bit to each other, trying to be more specific. When we mentioned Kitaoji (a nearby street and station), he latched onto it, but then drove us a little past where we needed to be dropped off.We got home...eventually.