Day 7 (August 19th): Kyoto Shenanigans Day Two
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What Exactly IS a Dutch Oven?
Over my time in Japan, I've been rather surprised by the things I ended up enjoying the most. I'm not a big fan of Tokyo (which, honestly, I think we all saw coming) because of the incredibly intensity that every day seems to carry with it. I loved Yamanashi, despite the fact that the most exciting thing there were the giant spiders and the creepy man living on our floor. In Kyoto, my adoration of Nijo-jou came as a complete surprise, while I expected to be more blown away by Kinkakuji than I was.
Don't get me wrong--The Golden Pavillion was beautiful. It almost looked like it was floating out over the water, and several of the views were pretty damn spectacular. That being said, it didn't speak to me. For something that I've heard so much about for so long, it didn't impact me nearly as much as I thought it would. Part of it was probably the heat--I know I keep complaining about it, but it really makes it difficult to motivate yourself to do much of anything, and I think it definitely impacted how much I enjoyed yesterday's trek through the city.
After Kinkakuji, I went to Ryoanji, the temple only a few minutes away with a famous rock garden where (allegedly) you can see no more than fourteen of the fifteen large stones at any one time. It was definitely impressive, but, like Kinkakuji, I expected to like it a lot more than I did.
Don't get me wrong--The Golden Pavillion was beautiful. It almost looked like it was floating out over the water, and several of the views were pretty damn spectacular. That being said, it didn't speak to me. For something that I've heard so much about for so long, it didn't impact me nearly as much as I thought it would. Part of it was probably the heat--I know I keep complaining about it, but it really makes it difficult to motivate yourself to do much of anything, and I think it definitely impacted how much I enjoyed yesterday's trek through the city.
After Kinkakuji, I went to Ryoanji, the temple only a few minutes away with a famous rock garden where (allegedly) you can see no more than fourteen of the fifteen large stones at any one time. It was definitely impressive, but, like Kinkakuji, I expected to like it a lot more than I did.
I think a huge part of this trip has been the connections I've made. Of course, I made some friends on Team 6 that were an incredible find, and there's a reason I was so sad when everyone left, and as much as I joke about only appreciating Tai because he's letting me stay at his house, he's an awesome guy. I didn't expect to make the same kind of connections on my travels, but I did!
Later that day, I ran into two awesome British people from Cambridge who were nice enough to spend the day with me. Sightseeing by yourself is kind of lonely, because you don't have a chance to share what you're seeing with anyone. This blog definitely helps, but I can't tell you how many times I caught myself thinking: "Everyone'll love this when I put it up on Facebook." It's a different dynamic when you travel with other people, and Grace and Mark were just what I needed to shake the ennui off my shoulders.
Later that day, I ran into two awesome British people from Cambridge who were nice enough to spend the day with me. Sightseeing by yourself is kind of lonely, because you don't have a chance to share what you're seeing with anyone. This blog definitely helps, but I can't tell you how many times I caught myself thinking: "Everyone'll love this when I put it up on Facebook." It's a different dynamic when you travel with other people, and Grace and Mark were just what I needed to shake the ennui off my shoulders.
Kiyomizu-dera was, unlike Kinkaku-ji, just as awesome as I thought it was. The entire time, I heard Professor Kimbrough in my head telling us that you can jump off Kiyomizu-dera as long as you truly believe in Buddhism, and the deities will swoop you up and protect you. Needless to say, I didn't try it--I don't think I'm quite devout enough to warrant divine intervention.
I ended up spending the rest of the day with Grace and Mark. Grace is here doing the JET Program, an English teaching program in Japan that I hope to do once I graduate, so maybe I got my divine intervention afterall! Perhaps the most interesting part of our shenanigans were our comparisons between British English and American English. Apparently "fannie" is considered a dirty word across the pond (they call "fannie-packs" "bum-bags" instead, which sounds downright dirty to me), and a "Dutch Oven" is when you stick your significant other's head under the covers and fart on them. Who knew? Also, (Cailey and Sarah, this is particularly directed at you) apparently even British people think I say the word "bagel" weird. You are officially vindicated. We ran into a man with a Border Collie on the beach, and my life was pretty much complete. Mission: Visit three temples. Status: Complete (with a touch of British flair).
I ended up spending the rest of the day with Grace and Mark. Grace is here doing the JET Program, an English teaching program in Japan that I hope to do once I graduate, so maybe I got my divine intervention afterall! Perhaps the most interesting part of our shenanigans were our comparisons between British English and American English. Apparently "fannie" is considered a dirty word across the pond (they call "fannie-packs" "bum-bags" instead, which sounds downright dirty to me), and a "Dutch Oven" is when you stick your significant other's head under the covers and fart on them. Who knew? Also, (Cailey and Sarah, this is particularly directed at you) apparently even British people think I say the word "bagel" weird. You are officially vindicated. We ran into a man with a Border Collie on the beach, and my life was pretty much complete. Mission: Visit three temples. Status: Complete (with a touch of British flair).
Day 8 (August 20th): Onward, to Osaka!
I'll admit, my first day in Osaka was accompanied by some pretty low morale. I think the biggest problem was that my backpack was unbalanced, so even though I've trekked to infinity and beyond with it on my back and never had a problem, it was seriously heavy. I went to Osaka Castle, but instead of being similar to Nijo-jou where you could wander around and pretend to be a murderious Shogun, it was just a reconstruction with a rather humdrum museum inside. Add that to the fact that I couldn't print out my bus reservation because I waited too long, and morale was definitely low. I headed to the hostel pretty early and checked in as soon as I could. That's when things turned around.
For some reason, I chose to book a very traditional guest house for my final hostel. I could have picked something more Western, where I'd be guaranteed some English-speaking company, but I think for my last few days I was really craving something Japanese. What I ended up with was Guest House ODORI, a traditional Japanese house converted into a hostel-type facility for backpackers. I loved it from the beginning, and the staff is incredibly nice. They suffered through my terrible Japanese and invited me to a seriously intense game of Jenga. The day ended with Ayumi-san extending me a rather mysterious invitation to do something the next day having to do with Japanese television. After falling asleep to the melodious sound of RuPaul's Drag Race coming from the other bedroom, I woke up to...
For some reason, I chose to book a very traditional guest house for my final hostel. I could have picked something more Western, where I'd be guaranteed some English-speaking company, but I think for my last few days I was really craving something Japanese. What I ended up with was Guest House ODORI, a traditional Japanese house converted into a hostel-type facility for backpackers. I loved it from the beginning, and the staff is incredibly nice. They suffered through my terrible Japanese and invited me to a seriously intense game of Jenga. The day ended with Ayumi-san extending me a rather mysterious invitation to do something the next day having to do with Japanese television. After falling asleep to the melodious sound of RuPaul's Drag Race coming from the other bedroom, I woke up to...
Day 9 (August 21st): Japanese Television and the Tennoji Zoo!
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How I Got 1,000 Yen for Pretending to be a Tourist
I woke up this morning understanding three things. The first was that I might be going to see someone from Japanese television at some point during the day, the second was that Ayumi-san was coming with me, and the third was that 1,000 yen was going to be involved in some capacity. In the end, that was basically what happened, with a few misunderstandings along the way.
Ayumi-san came to me during breakfast and said something along the lines of: "Because we're going to be in the area already, let's go to the zoo before we do [insert something having to do with Japanese TV]." Now, I'm not usually too excited about zoos, but it seemed like a fun way to spend some time and get to know Ayumi-san for a little bit before we did whatever it was we were planning on doing. The zoo was, like the rest of Japan, beastly hot (forgive the pun) but we still had fun.
Ayumi-san came to me during breakfast and said something along the lines of: "Because we're going to be in the area already, let's go to the zoo before we do [insert something having to do with Japanese TV]." Now, I'm not usually too excited about zoos, but it seemed like a fun way to spend some time and get to know Ayumi-san for a little bit before we did whatever it was we were planning on doing. The zoo was, like the rest of Japan, beastly hot (forgive the pun) but we still had fun.
As it turns out, the vague thing we were supposed to be doing surrounding Japanese television was me getting paid 1,000 yen to go on Japanese television and talk about the guest house I'm staying at. I figured this out fairly late in our zoo adventures, so I didn't have too long to freak out about it, and it turned out to be really fun! I haven't seen the fruits of my labor yet, but soon!
After the zoo, I went to the Umeda Sky Garden, and wandered around some expensive but awesome shops for awhile before returning to the hostel and writing this blog post. My first day in Osaka might have been less than exciting, but my second day was awesome!
-Allison
After the zoo, I went to the Umeda Sky Garden, and wandered around some expensive but awesome shops for awhile before returning to the hostel and writing this blog post. My first day in Osaka might have been less than exciting, but my second day was awesome!
-Allison
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