Kyoto - Beyond the Temples

For our second (and last) day in Kyoto, we decided to check out one more temple, then see a few more off the beaten path attractions. We drove over to the Arashiyama area, on the west side of Kyoto, which is famed for its bamboo groves. After a quick accidental stop at Nonomiya shrine, we walked through the bamboo groves to Tenryu-Ji, the "heavenly dragon" temple with gardens dating from the 14th century.

Giant bamboo trees

The gardens at Tenryu-Ji

A roof ornament near Tenryu-Ji

Statues on a road in Arashiyama

This guy is raising the roof!

Just across the river and up the hill from Tenryu-Ji is the Arishiyama Monkey Park. Wild monkeys live in the mountains in this area, but the monkey park has a protected group that you can feed from inside a "human cage." It was a bit of a hike to the top, but then there were dozens of adorable monkeys (and a few mean ones!) that we got to feed peanuts and apples.

Oh, I see.

Japanese monkey!

He really wants a peanut.

Just loungin' around!

There was a little pond that the monkeys drink from.

mmmm, peanuts... Note that David is in the cage, and the monkey is free!

This guy went for a swim!

After seeing the monkeys eat all of our peanuts and apples, we had worked up quite an appetite. We went for a traditional Japanese lunch at a restaurant along the river. It was a series of small, delicate dishes, along with tempura and tofu and broth cooked right at the table. We also had some shubu shabu, which is beef you cook in hot broth at your table and dip in either sesame or citrus sauce. It was all a bit pricey, but tasty!

David cooking his tofu (in the silver bowl) and broth (in the teapot).

Pretty tofu!

Shabu shabu

Next up was an unusual visit for a foreign tourist - the Toei Kyoto Studio Park! It's kind of like a mini super-Japanese version of Universal Studios (although there is a *real* Universal Studios in Osaka). It was totally bizarre - we had to learn how to escape from the Ninja Mystery House (really fun!), walk through a creepy haunted house, there were giant robots, anime girls, a huge pan of fried eggs, a fake elevator of doom, a tyrannosaur that rose from a pond in the courtyard of an old port city set, edo-era backlot filming sets, a ninja versus samurai filming demonstration, and more!

Three ninjas kick back

This is the hand signal you use to call a ninja to your aid.

This was only the second biggest robot in the place!

After our wacky ninja studio experience, we did some shopping near our hostel, then had some Indian food for dinner. It was actually really good, and relatively cheap compared to the prices we've come to expect in Japan. Finally we got our pictures taken in a photo booth that automatically makes your eyes look bigger. Apparently they're really popular with teenage girls. Oh, Japan!

Yuuuum!

Editing our photos

Off to Osaka tomorrow morning!

Kyoto - City of History Day 1

Kyoto is the heart of old Japan. It became the capital in 794, and was home to each of the Emperors and royal families until 1868. It is chock-full of tourist sites, with over 1600 Buddhist temples, 400 Shinto shrines, and an incredible 17 protected UNESCO world heritage sites. You could spend ages looking at the sites, and in fact our guidebook suggests four days to a week! Unfortunately we only have two days in Kyoto, so we dove right in to some of the major sites.

We started at Fushimi Inari, on the Southeast side of the city. It's a magnificent shrine complex from the 8th century, with pathways of bright orange torii gates across the wooded hillside. It also has a number of statues of foxes, which are considered the messenger of Inari, the god of the rice harvest. It really was a spectacular place.  Below the still pictures is a link to a video that we took that might help you get a feel for the site.

Pull the cord to ring the bell and then clap twice before praying to get the gods' attention!

Fushimi Inari

Row of Fushimi Inari torii gates across the hillside

Fushimi Inari - great sightlines!

From Fushimi Inari we went to a nearby Buddhist temple called Tofuku-ji.  This temple is well known for its fall foliage viewing, and was packed with people doing just that.  There is a bridge that crosses a valley filled with Japanese maples.  It was really beautiful, despite the throngs of camera-toting tourists.

Tofuku-ji Gardens

It was really packed with tourists looking at the fall colors - notice the crammed pathway on the left!

Painted ceiling at Tofuku-ji

After Tofuku-ji we decided to go to the Kyoto train station to eat lunch and pick up our tickets for Tokyo on Wednesday.  The station is bustling and very modern in design.  From the roof on the 11th floor you can get a great panoramic view of all of Kyoto.  You can even see the far off skyscrapers of neighboring Osaka.

Emiko's tempura at lunch

Looking down into Kyoto Station from the 11th floor

One of the most visited sites in Kyoto is Kinkaku-Ji, the "golden pavilion." It's a three story pavilion with gold leaf covering the top two sections, set in front of a picturesque pond and gardens. On the temple grounds we had some matcha (frothy bitter green tea) with a sugary treat with flakes of gold leaf on top.

Kinkaku-Ji

David didn't like this tea...his loss!

It was getting close to sunset, so we drove over to the Gion neighborhood. It's famous for geisha, historic houses, and lots of restaurants and bars. We walked down Shimbashi-Dori, a short but beautiful street along side a maple-lined stream, and also Hanam-koji, a street lined with 17th century buildings housing restaurants and tea shops. We stumbled upon Kenin-Ji, the oldest zen temple in Kyoto. Unfortunately the grounds aren't lit up at night, but one of the subtemples did have nice lanterns hanging from it.

Shimbashi-Dori

Kenin-Ji lanterns

Also in the Gion district was Chion-in, the headquarters of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, the most popular sect in Japan. It normally closes at 4:30, but it was open for a special event where they light up the temple and grounds, and you're allowed to go in the two-story temple gate (the largest gate in Japan). We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the top of the gate, but it was a breathtaking dimly-lit wooden space with carved statues and painted ceilings, including a large dragon. The main hall of Chion-in is massive, and quite impressive. Agian, no photos allowed inside!

Chion-in Grounds

The lit-up trees at Chion-in reflecting in the pond

Just down the hill from Chion-in was Yasaka-Jinja, a colorful orange shrine with lots of lanterns.

Yasaka-Jinja

For dinner, we had Chinese food for a change of pace. We tried a few different things, including spicy fried eggplant, jellyfish, a chicken dish, bok choi, and garlic shoots with pork. It was all really good, and a bit different than Chinese food in the US.  David was not a fan of the jellyfish.

Jellyfish on top of shredded cucumbers!

Beppu & Hiroshima

We spent two night at Emiko's place in Beppu, and unfortunately it was constantly raining. We still managed to see a few sights, and got some much needed rest and relaxation.

Emiko making sauce for our katsu lunch

Beppu is famous for its geothermal activity. There are a lot of hot springs, some of which you can swim in and some of which are just for looking at. We visited Chinoike Jigoku (blood pond hell), which has a murky red color. We also tried some local pudding that is cooked using hot spring water and topped with a bitter caramel sauce.

Rainy day at blood pond hell

Pudding steamed in the geothermal vents.  David hated it.

After relaxing at Emiko's place for a bit with hot cocoa, we joined some of her co-workers for a conveyor belt sushi dinner. You could order from a screen, and a tiny bullet train brought the sushi to your table! After dinner we did a few hours of karaoke and tried a few new drinks, including various flavors of chuhai.

All aboard the sushi express!

Our karaoke room

Obviously we did Livin on a Prayer

The next day we slept in, then drove to Hiroshima. We didn't get to our hostel until it was dark, but we walked around and saw the peace park at night before eating at a four-story okonimoyaki building and seeing Hiroshima Castle.

Leaving Beppu... the rain finally stopped!

We didn't try this...despite being cheese lovers.

Floor futons!  We managed to fit three people in this room.  It was like camping!

Okonimoyaki, our first meal in Hiroshima, is like a mix between an omelet and a pancake.  Different regions of Japan prepare this dish in different, competing ways.  Each region claims it makes the best version!  Hiroshima style is special because it has noodles inside.  At the okonimoyaki complex there are a couple dozen okonimoyaki stalls to choose from.  The one we selected was just based on who had room to seat us.  Most of the places served a similar style of okonimoyaki, with only subtle differences.  The guy that made ours inherited the business from his father and is passing it on to his son who now works there also.

Our master chef starting the batter.  He was impressed with how we ate it like Japanese people.

The finished product...delicious okonimoyaki

Hiroshima Castle

A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima.  The Hypocenter of the bombing

The next day we woke up early and went to the Hiroshima Peace Museum and the Atomic Bomb Victim Remembrance Hall.  This museum is dedicated to educating the world about the atrocities of nuclear war.  There were numerous exhibits explaining Hiroshima's history, the Japanese aggression in the Pacific, the physics of nuclear weapons, etc.  Overall, the exhibits seemed pretty objective and many of them were quite sad.  The Remembrance Hall had a multimedia testimonial room where you could literally spend days hearing survivors recount the horrors they had seen.  It felt a bit weird being an American at this museum, but time heals all wounds and no one gave us a second glance.

Paper Cranes at the base of the statue of a teacher carrying a dying student at the Peace Museum

A-Bomb Dome

From the museum, we decided to go to Miyajima island, the site of the UNESCO-listed Itsukushima Shrine, one of Japan's many Shinto shrines. Traffic getting to the ferry was horrible, and the island itself was completely packed with tourists.  A beautiful sunny weekend day along with the start of a fall leaf-viewing festival on the island and brought people out in droves. Itsukushima Shrine is well known as one of the three great sites of Japan, and an iconic representation of the island nation.  When the tide is out, you can walk all the way to the shrine's torii (wooden gate that serves as an entrance to a sacred space in Shintoism).  When the tide is in, it completely engulfs the torii and the nearby shrine is surrounded by water.  We came as the tide was moving back in, and it was still between the torii and the shrine.

On Miyajima Island with the torii in the distance

Itsukushima Shrine Torii

Itsukushima Shrine Torii

Itsukushima Shrine

Pagoda on Miyajima Island

On the island, there are herds of roaming deer that, while not domesticated, have no fear of humans and are like large house cats.  They follow people around begging for food and are pretty capable of sneaking up behind you and stealing your ice cream, as Paul nearly learned the hard way!  The island is also known for a snack called momiji manju.  These treats are little cakes filled with different creams, beans, or pastes.  David got a cream cheese filled one that tasted just like cheesecake, a pleasant surprise in the land that dairy forgot.

Friendly!

Trying to steal Paul's Calpis-flavored ice cream! ...still cute.

It was windy and cold on the ferry back to the car!  Poor Emiko!

From Miyajima Island, we began the long drive to Kyoto, where we'll spend two days before visiting Osaka and finally Tokyo.  We arrived at Kyoto after dark and found dinner at an Italian restaurant (don't judge, how many days can you honestly go without looking for something with tomato sauce and cheese!?).  Overall, the food wasn't great, but Paul got an interesting surprise...

They called this a calzone.