Today I took a day trip out to Nara, a small town about 45 minutes by express train from Kyoto. Nara has a large park that is home to a number of shrines and temples as well as a huge number of tame deer. The deer are all over the place, so many that you wonder how they don’t starve until you notice vendor after vendor selling small packages of crackers for 150 yen that you can feed to the deer. Embarrassingly, I thought the first old lady I ran into was selling some sort of local snack food so I picked up a package, only to notice the deer picture on the wrapping - doh!

The park is a straight shot from the train station, much like Himeji or even Nikko, so finding my way around was quite easy. Once you make it to the park there are ample signs all around the park to help you from getting lost, which is nice since the park is quite large.

Once again, it was students everywhere I went. Today again a number of school kids had the assignment of trying out some basic english with foreigners and collecting their signatures. I must have looked like an easy mark since I ended up signing a good 25+ workbooks in the first hour or two I was there. In return, I forced a couple of the more rambunctious groups pose for a photo.

On the way back to the main street from the park I ran into a mother walking a small boy on a quiet side street. Apparently the boy hadn’t seen a foreigner before because he called for his mother and proceeded to point at me. I gave him a friendly wave and a konnichiwa when I walked by but I couldn’t crack his confused stare as I walked by.

For lunch I had okonomiyaki again, this time at a place where they cook it right up on your table instead of bringing it out and using the table grill just to keep it warm like they did in Osaka. I got to choose the sauces that went on top and had them hold off a bit on the sweeter sauce. It turned out much better than when I had it before, although with a full stomach and all the sun I got again today I came very very close to falling asleep on the train ride back to Kyoto.

After coming home and doing my usual email/flickr/blog routine I headed down the the underground mall again for a little something for dinner. I swung by a sushi place that was so-so by US standards. I picked a combination by picture that included salmon roe, tuna, salmon, and (raw) shrimp amongst some other whitefish that I couldn’t really identify. When I got the plate there was something I wasn’t expecting - a thin piece of something that was bright blue. I have no idea what it was, but it was kinda tasty.

Tomorrow I head to Hiroshima where I don’t think I’ll have any internet access for a while so the next update may be a couple of days from now.

Photos on flickr.

It cleared up again so today I spent more time wandering around Kyoto. One of my first stops was Nijo-jo which, as usual for my trip, was just crawling with school kids. Soon after I entered the grounds I had one group of kids come up and say “Hello” and then try to say something else, but I just couldn’t make it out. I apologized and moved on, only to have another group of kids pounce on me. This time their english was better and after we went through introductions, I learned they were hungry and liked baseball : ) . Turns out it was part of some school project for they had me fill out a little slip with my name and where I was from and in return I got a slip describing how they were 6th graders from Awaji Island, that their town produces lots of onions, and how they really hope I’ll send them either a letter or email so they can learn more about foreign countries. The slip even had a bunch of custom colored pencil drawings on it. When I get home I’ll have take some pictures around Seattle and send them an email.

This turned out to be the theme for the day. Before I even left Nijo I had even more school kids say “hello” and another group of older kids ask if we could have our pictures taken together. This carried on as I went to other shrines where I was asked what I liked best about Kyoto for yet another school project and had my picture taken yet again. The capper was when I passed a long stream of little kids, probably 2nd graders, and had this continuos stream of “hello”s as filed on by. Very cute.

Anyway, Nijo-jo was the first place I visited that had actual nightingale floors that made a melodious cacophony with all the foot traffic filing through. From there I wandered up the the Imperial Palace Park. You can tour the palace but you need reservations. I had none and although I heard you can usually get in the same day I decided to push on past Kyoto University towards Ginkakuji Temple. Along the way I stopped by Chionji Temple which was populated only by a couple of lone students looking for a quite place to have lunch. Lunch seemed like a good idea at that point so I swung by a little restaurant where I had their “mini-katsu udon” combo. There was nothing mini about it, I had a nice size bowl of rice topped with a thick layer of egg and tonkatsu, a big bowl of udon in a mild dashi broth, a chunk of soft tofu topped with green onion and dried fish flakes, and some japanese pickles for only 600 yen.

From there I wandered over to Ginkakuji Temple, which again was overrun with school kids. Besides having some nice sand gardens, the grounds were amazing. The hillside is covered with a green moss that is swept clean of leaves making it look like a natural carpet. From there I headed down the Philosopher’s Path, a beautiful canal side walking trail, down to Eikan-do Temple. Eikan-do was a nice, shady, serene temple that was enough off the beaten path that it was only lightly crowded. After pausing for some soft-serve green tea ice cream, I headed down to Nanzenji Temple where I again caught up with the crowds. Nanzenji has a big entrance gate where if you are willing to dish out 500 yen and walk up some really steep stairs you can get some good views. They also have an roman looking aqueduct and nice garden you can go through. I finished up at Konchi-in Temple, a beautiful garden in the shadow of Nanzenji that apparently most people don’t find since I had the place all to my self.

For dinner, I headed down to the underground mall right by the train station that has a ton of restaurants. I decided to continue on the katsu theme and have some some classic tonkatsu with dipping sauce. The sauce was a lot less sweet than the tonkatsu I’d had in the states and very good. There is so much more stuff I have to try before I go home!

Pictures on Flickr

Today the rain was back full in force, although if the weather forecast is to be believed, the rest of the week will be sunny and hot again. I decided to take a day trip this morning to Himeji, home of the famous Himeji-jo.

Himeji is only about 50 minutes from Kyoto by shinkansen. Once there I popped by the visitor information center where I was able to procure an english language map and a nice hint on how to make it most of the way to the castle avoiding the rain by walking down a covered shopping street that ran parallel to the main street.

Himeji castle my look like Osaka castle from the outside, but the inside is as different as can be. The castle interior has been preserved and you can wander the interior of the buildings much as they were years and years ago(minus any decoration). The interior is mostly unlit and the stairs can be quite steep but that didn’t stop the tour of elderly japanese who happened to be going through the same time I was. I have to say, I enjoyed it much more than Osaka castle with its modern museum interior (complete with elevator).

The rain was pretty fierce, so after the castle I decided to head back instead of touring the gardens as well. On the way back I swung by a little noodle place where I had some scrumptious curry udon before hopping back on the shinkansen.

Once back in Kyoto I decided to take the rest of the day off and catch up both on laundry and on blog posts. On the way back to my hotel I picked up another train station bento for dinner later that contained…

• a piece of salmon

• a large square of sweet scrambled egg

• 2 fish sausage balls

• another piece of white fish

• a small breaded chunk of chicken

• an assortment of vegetables and konnyaku

• a small amount of what first looked like tiny bean sprouts but on further examination turned out to be tiny whole fish.

• japanese pickles

• a large number of rice rolls colorfully decorated.

All that for only 1000 yen, what a deal.

Pictures on flickr

Another travel day. I checked out of my hotel in Osaka and took a quick shinkansen to Kyoto. Before I left I picked up a bit of lunch from one of the bento places at the train station - a huge box of packed full of unagi, sweet rice, shredded scrambled egg, and japanese pickles. It was by far the biggest meal I’ve had since I’ve got here, fairly cheap, and very very tasty, but then again I really like unagi.

Kyoto station is a huge modern place that serves both the regular lines and the shinkansen. The Hotel Gravia Kyoto where I’m staying at is attached right to the station which made getting to it easy - a bit too easy since as I write this I’m hanging out in a food court in front of Mister Donut trying to figure out where I’m going to go after I drop off my bags since its way to early for me to check in. Location-wise its perfect, besides being right next to the train station allowing for some easy day-trips its also close to the Kyoto visitor information center and a big post office. Why does it matter if I’m close to a post office you ask? Post offices are the most reliable place here in japan to find an ATM guaranteed to be linked to the american system. They are pretty easy to spot, even the small ones, since they always have a particular symbol out front that looks like a red capitol T with a line over the top. Even if they are closed you usually can still get to the ATM section.

After checking in my bags and picking up an english map from the local tourist information center I wandered over to the eastern part of Kyoto where the closest section of temples where. In the 3-4 hours I spent hoofing it around I only got to see a fraction of what there was to see before I started running into closing time. Well, that and the heat was getting to me. It was another 80+ day and I was just dripping. I managed to hit Sanjusangen-do Temple, Kiyomizudera Temple, Yasaka Shrine, and Chion-in Temple as well as wander though some very scenic small side streets, hang out in Maruyama park, and make frequent stops at drink vending machines.

My room at the Gravia isn’t quite as nice as my last hotel, but its still really nice and does have some nice perks such as free internet access that the New Otani didn’t.

After checking in I wandered around and found a tiny little hole in the wall restaurant that sat maybe 12. It was the first one so far I’ve been to where you had to take off your shoes and sit on the floor (on a cushion, of course). Often when you go to places they bring you a little appetizer while you wait for for your food, here they brought me a couple of small balls of konnyaku in a mustard sauce that was unexpectedly tasty. I then had a mix of tempura and some yakitori. I have yet to find Japanese food I haven’t liked, although I have yet to push the envelope that much in the seafood direction.

Photos on flickr

Today I sleep in a bit before working my way over the Osaka Aquarium. It is even sunnier than was yesterday - I’m guessing it must be about 80 since its really hot. Its a sunday so the aquarium is packed but very impressive. I particularly liked their huge pacific ocean tank complete with rays, sharks, schools of tuna, and humongous whale shark.

Riding the trains around Osaka I saw something I had heard about but not seen before - women only compartments. I hadn’t noticed them on either the subway or trains I had taken around Tokyo. After having experiencing a couple of totally packed rides I can see how both intentional and unintentional groping could be an issue.

From there I work my way back to my hotel and wander about Osaka-jo. The castle is pretty much all rebuilt and just a so-so museum inside but the views up top are spectacular. I had no idea that Osaka was as big as it is, the density stretches on and on as far as the eye can see. For a snack I pick up some takoyaki and a beer and hang out watching all the bands play in front of osakajo-koen station similar to what I ran into in front of yoyogi. I’ve lucked out twice now without planning it, visiting both yoyogi and osakajo-koen on sundays when the local music scene is out in force.

For dinner I went back to the shopping mall and had okonomiyaki so I could compare Osaka style with Hiroshima style later on. The topping was a bit sweet but very tasty. Wandering around the mall I saw something interesting, a place called “Dog Mind”. It looked a little bit like a coffee shop at first, but with a twist - you apparently pay money and spend your time petting a dog of your choice. Of course they also sell a wide variety of dog snacks and accessories so you can spend some quality time with your rental dog. Only in Japan…

Pictures on Flickr