I'm gonna miss you, Kyoto

Because what has made this year so incredible hasn’t been just the trips all around the country, the nights out eating strange and delicious foods, ; it’s been the people I’ve been along the way. From my host family to my English Learning Club to my nephews to my shamisen teacher… I’ve gotten closer to these people than I ever thought I would and I can’t even imagine life without them.

They take after me

I will never forget my many experiences with the people I have met while I’ve been in Kyoto. What I gained from these relationships is what makes my experience unrepeatable and truly a once in a lifetime chance. These people have been some of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and even with my language barrier, I really feel that I have gotten close to them.

Thursday EWS <3

So even though this is goodbye to Japan for now, I know already that I will be back. This trip has really been an unforgettable experience, and I know the relationships I have made here will last well past when I arrive back in America.

With finals finally out of the way and free time from now until I have to go back to America, I finally have some free time to enjoy and relax around Kyoto. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, however – it’s slowly dawning on all of us that we have less than 13 days left here in Japan!

My image of Kyoto before even arriving, like many people, definitely included gigantic blooming sakura (Japanese cherry) trees, with a constant stream of slowly falling petals and warm, spring days. Now that the sakura season has passed, I can say that the trees were almost better than I could have imagined!

The pictures will probably do all the talking for me, but one misconception I had before they bloomed was that sakura trees were rare and special, and that they were things that were only found near important buildings and temples. I was completely wrong! When the sakura bloom in Japan, everywhere you go is bursting with them. My walk to my station, outside the window on my train ride, and even around my school campus – sakura trees were everywhere! It certainly made the beginning of April one of the prettiest times in Japan!

A gigantic sakura tree at the Kyoto Botanical Garden!

Arashiyama had tons of these trees all alongside the river

One incredibly popular Japanese custom is Hanami, or Flower Viewing, where families, friends, or co-workers gather under a sakura tree and have lunch or drink.

Despite the crowds, Sakura Season in Kyoto turned out to be a fun new look on increasingly familiar places!

Going to hot springs and public baths is an aspect of Japanese culture that I’ve gotten into that before coming I never thought I would. There are all sorts of different kinds you can go to, ranging from gigantic, beautiful facilities to a bare bones room with a tub of hot water in it. It’s definitely fun, and an adventure, to find different ones and try them out. The granddaddy of the them all for me, however, has to have been Spa World in Osaka.

Spa World is a humongous, multistoried mega-bath, whose main attraction is that it’s multiple rooms of bathes are each themed after a different place in the world. There are Roman fountain baths, Finland Saunas, a Greek Medicinal bath, and of course, Japanese style baths as well. It was as much fun running around and trying all the different kinds of baths (waterfalls, jets, massage chairs, and even one filled with milk and honey!) as it was relaxing.

So for about ten dollars (which is as much as most normal baths) I got to spend the day with one of my Japanese friends in Spa World! We started out in the waterpark area (completely indoors and right in the middle of the metropolis of Osaka) then went to the gym and did enough exercise to need a bath, then spent the rest of the day lounging in all of the different baths and saunas.

Overall, as cheesy as the place was at times, it really ended up being one of the best days I’ve had in Japan. Everything seemed to go right, and Spa World was everything I had hoped it would be an more!

Climbing Mt. Hiei

A view of Lake Biwa from the top of the mountain! Well worth the climb, and great weather

The beginning of my spring break, I got together with some friends and we hiked up Mt. Hiei, in the same way we climbed Mt. Daimonji a few months ago. This mountain, however, really was a mountain – it took four or five times longer to climb, even with our much faster pace, and it was completely exhausting. Some parts were downright dangerous – one wrong step would be all it would take! Still, the view from the top was well worth the climb, and afterwords we went to get sushi.

Going to Ine with my Host Family

Definitely the biggest and one of the best parts of my spring break was a trip that my host parents decided to take me and my older nephew, Kyu, on to northern Kyoto Prefecture, Ine. I had never even heard about the place before, but the night before, they showed me a video about it, and I started getting excited.

My backseat buddy Kyu, who did not want to leave my side the entire trip

The next morning, bright and early, we set off in their tiny car, Kyu and I in the back seat, driving along windy mountain roads towards a suddenly rural area. It was pretty rainy, but the weather actually made the scenery better, I think. I love how the mountains look with low hanging clouds near them.

Halfway to Ine, we stopped at small collection of houses that were some of the only remaining traditional thatched roof houses in the area. Because of the rain, we literally saw no one for hours, which made for really nice and kind of mysterious photos, which we took hanging out of our windows.

It actually ended up turning into a photo taking contest. My parents had given Kyu a camera for the trip and he loved taking pictures of everything

After a few hours (which seemed like forever for us kids in the back seat) we arrived at our traditional style Japanese hotel. Rather than a normal western hotel, we were the only guests in this hotel, which was run by a family that lived on the floor below us. We were given traditional Japanese style rooms and the family made our meals for us.

Our beautiful, newly renovated room, with a giant window perfect for taking pictures from (and feeding sea gulls, in Kyu and my cases)

The meals were some of the best parts of the trip! Ine is on the ocean, and one of the reasons it’s so special is that he houses are almost built into the water. There are garage like openings on the front facing the water, were boats sat. The food we ate for dinner and breakfast was almost all fish that had been caught not hours before. It was some of the best fish I have ever had, and even my unrefined tongue could tell how fresh it was.

The next day, we stopped at another famous site in northern Kyoto called Amanohashidate, which was a beautiful strip of land that became a bridge connecting two bigger islands. We went up a monorail to the top of a mountain to get a good view, but when we finally got to the top, the rain that had been falling below had gotten stronger and turned to snow! We quickly retreated back down the mountain on the next monorail, but Kyu was very excited by the snow, because he had never seen so much in his life, living in Kyoto. Before leaving northern Kyoto and heading home, we also got to take a quick ride on a boat, which Kyu and I spent throwing food to sea gulls from the back.

Our cloudly view when we first arrived to the top of the mountain...

...then a sudden blizzard a few minutes later

Feeding sea gulls from the back of the boat with Kyu

The trip ended up being one of the best trips I had taken while in Japan. It was tiring spending three days straight with a 7 year old who never wanted to leave my side, but with my level of Japanese at about the same as his, I ended up regressing to his level at times, and it was nice to be taken care of by my host parents.

A couple of ninjas, greeting us at our first stop

After riding our bus into a rural, forested area, we arrived at our first stop: the Ninja Village. We explored this sort of touristy area, complete with little activities people could trip and actual houses of ninjas, filled with secret doors and booby traps.

A hidden escape hatch in the kitchen!

Our next stop brought us to a famous image that I had seen before, but seeing it in real life was slightly less impressive. In my mind, the rocks and ropes were huge and in the distance, but in actuality there were small and not too far from shore. It was nice to see, though, and we had a nice lunch.

Ta-da!

This place was famous for it's giant fried shimp, and because we were the only people there, the lady showed us newspaper articles about it and everything

Our hotel turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip! Rather than rooms, each group got a mini-cabin, and we got very nice hotel style buffet dinner and breakfast, and the hotel hot spring was included as well.

It was nice to be away from the city for a while, and the views from our hotel were fantastic

The next day it was raining, unfortunately, but we went on anyway to the main attractions of Ise – advertised as the oldest shrine in Japan. The surrounding town was nice as well, with lots of different foods to try and shops to look at. The weather eventually cleared up, which seemed to cheer everyone up.

The famous Ise Bridge, which I see advertisements for every day on my train to and from school

The shrine was gigantic, and all the buildings were in a large forest

Their special Tofu flavored ice cream, which was good, but didn't taste much different from normal ice cream

Despite the rain, it ended up being a really nice trip. We had plenty to do and see, but we were given the freedom to do what we wanted at our own pace.

I’m not sure if it was a coincidence or not, but the plum blossom viewing festival happened to fall on the same day as the month flea market, meaning that there was another huge crowd added onto the already mob of people. At the same time, though, it meant there was plenty of tasty festival food and neat things to find for very cheap, and while we weren’t looking at the plum blossoms, we got to explore tents and see all sorts of people.

Even besides the flea market, it was worth coming just to see the plum trees. I had heard that they have over 2000 trees, but I was still surprised when I went to find the rows and rows of trees, almost all of them in full bloom.

With our ticket in, we also got tea and sweet crackers, both made from tea. The crackers were delicious, but the tea was made from pickled plum and definitely not my favorite.

I was lucky that I was able to go to to the plum blossom festival! The temple seemed completely different from how it was normally – much busier but at the same time very beautiful and relaxing. If nothing else, this has definitely gotten me excited for the upcoming sakura season at the end of the month!

Sapporo's Snow Festival activities ranged from adult to very very childish

In Sapporo, we got to see the best of what the city had to offer. This year was packed full of people from all over the world, and Sapporo seemed ready for it all. Everyone who I had talked to before going had recommended all sorts of food for me to try while I was there, so I took their advice and tried all sorts of Hokkaido specialties – Miso Ramen noodles, Soup Curry, and their famous Hokkaido chocolates, to name a few. As expected, it was all delicious! I’m sure that most of my spending money on this trip went to food and it was worth every yen.

My favorite dish (which brought me back to the same store the next night) Soup Curry, with the best pork I've ever had in it.

Besides food, we were always busy with plenty to do around the festival! There were everything from sculptures made from ice and snow from all sorts of countries around the world, gigantic ice slides that you could actually ride on (all ages) and all sorts of shows to watch (including an amazing snowboarding contest)! We even got a chance to climb the tallest mountain in the area on a cable car with a beautiful night view on the way up and down (the top was too cloudy because of the snow, unfortunately!)

One of the many ice sculptures, this one with a variety of fish inside!

One of the GIGANTIC snow sculptures, sometimes over three stories tall! They cost millions of dollars and took hundreds of people to make, but pictures can't really do them justice!

A slide, of the intertube variety.

Plenty of light-ups, as well as the famous TV Tower in Sapporo!

It turned out to be a great trip, an an experience I’ve never had before. It was amazing how much work went into some of the sculptures and events, and it was a lot of fun.

A beautiful view of Nara!

The morning started pretty early, making my way to the station in a freak snow storm (which was sticking a bit this morning, but is all gone by now). Once we had met together in Nara, we went to a nearby bike rental shop and borrowed some bikes, which we used to get around Nara. Although it was freezing outside, it was a nice change of pace, and it was fun to ride around and be able to see things along the way! The exercise also helped keep away the cold.

Not as distinguishable from ground view, but definitely keyhole shaped! Climbed up this bad boy!

Our first stop was at a giant, barren, keyhole-shaped mound, which was made by laborers carrying rocks 20 kilometers away and piling them up with dirt. We actually climbed to the top and got a nice view of the surrounding area, and we searched through the grass and found all sorts of different stones. Our professor could identify where they all came from; some were from the mountains far away, some were there already, and some were actually fragments of pottery that had been buried with the person!

Into the Bamboo Forest!

From there, we saw another, close by burial chamber, this time exposed to the air so we could see inside and walk around in it. After that, we hopped on our bikes and headed to a bamboo forest, were we found a small stone marker with an small opening behind it. To my surprise, the professor said that we were going to crawl into this one!

The entrance to the tomb! Pretty small, at first glance...

On our hands and knees, we got to crawl into an ancient burial chamber of some royalty from 1600 years ago! It was incredible to actually get to BE there, a place we had been learning about, which most people wouldn’t have been able to go in! In fact, I even got to crawl into the sarcophagus where the body would have been. We spent a lot of time in that chamber, because everyone was so amazed that we got the chance to be there!

In we go! Literally crawling inside!

Me, in the coffin of an ancient member of royalty from 500 AD Japan

After that, we saw a few more tombs and things that we had been studying, such as a sight where a lot of ancient mirrors had been found, and then called it quits and headed home. It was definitely an amazing field trip, and one of the best I’ve ever been on!

For now, I hope these photos are enough to satisfy you insatiable appetite for Japan!

Kyoto Tower, from the distance as I was taking a walk around town.

An interesting modern architecture building we saw on an architecture field trip

A building in Tofukuji, a temple I stopped by at one day

That’s not to say that I wasted by last week of freedom – on the contrary, such a gap between blog posts was because of how busy I have been running around Japan! I’ve being doing a lot of little things lately, so here’s just a preview of many of the little things that I’ve been up to!

A Trip to the Osaka Aquarium

The gigantic, multi-storied Osaka Aquarium from the front. The back faces the ocean, appropriately.

I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with a language assistant from Carleton last year who lives in Osaka, and she showed us around her city, eventually ending up at the Osaka Aquarium, one of the main attractions of the city. It was a little pricey to get in, but it was definitely worth it! There were all sorts of different exhibits, but the main attraction was a gigantic whale shark in what was touted as the world’s largest water tank. I believed them, too – visitors start at the top and work their way down, and more than half of the route seems to be this same huge tank from all sorts of sides. Very entertaining!

Of course, there was also a penguin parade.

A giant, walk-through fish tank

A New Year’s Party with my Host Family and their friends

Oh there was some food too.

Because Monday was a holiday here in Japan, Sunday night my host family held their annual New Year’s party, which meant a slew of people, some I knew and many I didn’t, came and sat around a huge table (a lazy susan that my host father made, apparently!) and ate a ton of food! There certainly was a lot of food, and I tried a lot of new things, including a LIVE shrimp. I was left out of most of the adult conversation, however, so I ended up retreating to the other room with my Japanese peers, the three elementary school children, and playing with them for half the time.

The party also gave me a chance to share some of the sweets that were sent to me with my family and their friends. They really liked the Peppermint flavored peeps, but not the candy cane candy corn so much.

A Climb up Mt. Daimonji

Two of my Japanese friends from my English Language group went with me to climb Mt. Daimonji, which was definitely a lot more grueling that I thought it would be! Luckily, it only took about half an hour to get to the top, where we dined on our rice balls and sweets that we had brought with us and talked for a long time. After the climb down (which was surprisingly more tiring than the climb up!) we went to karaoke for a few hours (a favorite of the Japanese and mine, these days) and got nice warm bowls of udon. That day turned out to be one of the best days I’ve had in Japan, it really was a lot of fun, and a nice way to end vacation before going back to school.

It was impossible to capture the stunning view from the top! I'll never get used to how amazing these mountains are.

With school starting up again, I’m glad to be back into a set schedule, but I feeling like I’ll be yearning for vacation pretty soon! It definitely helps me appreciate the free time I do get!