At 9:00, I left with my guide for 4 hours. While she was nice, she was a little hard to hear and didn't exactly have a bubbly personality. She just wasn't super outgoing and friendly in an extroverted way. These guides are paid an extremely high amount of money and I was not impressed with this one. We went first to Nijo Castle and spent a bit too long there. There honestly was not much to see.
Then, we went to a building that had some textiles workshops. I had told her about my interest in Japanese crafts. There was not much there, though we did see a man making a kimono by hand. It was unbelievable what precision is needed to do such work. His hands were shaking, yet he was doing an extraordinary job.
As we were crossing the street to our next destination, the gold pavilion, Kinkaku-ji, she explained that the symbol on a mountain nearby meant "large," and corresponded with another similarly decorated mountain on the exact opposite side of Kyoto's center, mirroring it. It had to do with ancestors and the afterlife.
The gold pavilion itself was beautiful, but no one was allowed inside. I knew a bit of its historical significance from one of the history podcasts, so it was nice to see in person. Apparently, a monk who was disturbed in the head, in 1950, burned the place down. When Japan had economical prosperity, it funded artisans to create enough gold leaf to rebuild the temple. Apparently, a few people have been let on the terrace, including President Bush and Gorbachev. I asked her if she thought they would let me in if I became president. She said no. So, I decided not to try to become president in the future.
To end our uneventful tour, she showed me the Five Story Pagoda. Again, no one is allowed in, so I was only able to look from the outside. We parted ways and I went off on my own.
I headed to the well known bamboo forest. Right outside the forest is a well reviewed temple, Tenryu-ji. We had to take off our shoes before entering. I decided to use the bathroom but was unsure how that would work with only socks. I opened the door...
I walked barefoot to a nearby extension of the temple, but there really wasn't much to see. Then, I explored the garden, but again, not much of note. I did, however, see some workers or monks try to rescue a tourist's hat from the lake.
The Arashiyama bamboo forest has pictures plastered over ever google search of Kyoto. There were many people, but I didn't mind. It was incredibly beautiful. It was only a short walk but I absolutely loved it.
At the end, there was a well reviewed garden called Okochi Sanso. It was fairly expensive to go in, but I gave it a shot. It was mostly a waste of my time.
I walked through a nearby park, down a mountainside, and then across a bridge. I was on my way to Arashiyama Monkey Park.
The ticket office said that the walk up the mountain to see the monkeys would take twenty to thirty minutes. I walked up to see a small area, with people hanging around and monkeys hanging around with them. They are like squirrels who are used to people in parks. They couldn't be bothered. Signs warned not to crouch down and not to make it obvious that you are pointing a camera at them.
The area also offered a great view of Kyoto.
I saw someone in a Starfleet shirt and of course, complimented him. We ended up talking for quite a while. He is from south California and has been living here in Japan for a while, in school, and would return to the US within the next month. He knows how to speak Japanese fairly well and told me a bit about what it is like living here, once you become integrated into the community. He had interesting insight into customary bowing. While I, as a tourist, am of no consequence to them, whether I bow or not, it is a serious thing for residents. We talked a bit about sci fi. His friend came over and said that he had been trying to get him to watch Firefly for a while. I added that he should watch Farscape and the 4400.
After they left, I walked down the mountain. There was a big slide, but I was too wide to go down. Perhaps it was for the monkeys.
At the bottom of the mountain, I saw this sign.
When I had almost arrived back at the train station, I saw an interesting sign. Aside from the bad grammar, I was intrigued about Japan's idea of animal cafes and decided to drop in while I was there.
The owl portion of the cafe was very sad. Owls were chained to perches, with very little moving room. Later, on the train, I looked up whether other people were as outraged and upset about this as I. Obviously people were, and they were hoping that Japan would push legislation ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, in order to stop this practice. The article also suggested that by forcing the owls to stay up during the day, it was messing with their nocturnal cycle.
The cat area was of a decent size, with many fake trees and limbs to climb around. The cats played with other people, toys, and each other. The attendant seemed to care and keep an eye on them.
Once closer to the center of town, I walked to a store named Rakushikan, that came recommended for paper that Kyoto is known for. It had a cute display of paper molded into people.
I saw a YMCA and a honey store. There was also a manga(Japanese form of comic book) store, an anime(Japanese cartoon) cafe and store, a sticker store, a restaurant that reminded me of a phrase my father used to say, and a full on store for caricature drawings.
I hadn't eaten breakfast, so around 6:30, I found a place that had gyudon, the beef bowl that I enjoyed from last night, and ate dinner. I quickly stepped into a 7 floored apartment store. My feet were hurting, and I didn't really have any interest in what was there, so I started back towards my hotel.
My last stop was to a promising looking cafe that I had taken note of earlier, and sat down for a pastry with ice cream on top. Shortly after, an old Japanese fellow sat down next to me and asked where I was from. When he heard that I was from the US, he told me of how he had lived in South Carolina for 8 years, working for a company. He would have liked to stay there, as he enjoyed the business, but a larger company bought them out and merged. The new management was poor and so he left. I told him about where I had been and where I was going.
We talked about my observations about Japanese society and what I enjoyed about my trip so far. He lamented the Japanese work ethic, that pushes people to work for far too long of the day and how it is culturally ingrained. He explained how people felt that working hard and long meant success, even if they weren't actually financially successful from it. It didn't make sense to him, but it takes society time to change. He also talked about his time working in Belgium, European vacation times, and trains.
We spoke for about an hour. It was nice to just sit back, talk, and hear about his experiences.
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