You gotta go to Kyoto

Kyoto slideshow (part 1)
Kyoto slideshow (part 2)

This past week I was fortunate enough to have made a journey to one of the world`s most historic and remarkably intact cities - Kyoto. It was a trip that I will never forget and that city made quite an impression on me. From the grandeur of the ultramodern Kyoto Station to the understated beauty of the ancient temples and from the stunningly landscaped gardens to the class and style of the people of Kyoto ... I was impressed. From top to bottom, I was impressed.

I think that for the first time I realized that it might actually be possible for me to live here. I know it is wildly premature to make such a statement, but at least know it is an option. In my eyes, this city is the Asian equivalent of Florence in Italy. While I still call Calgary home, I wouldn`t have that much of a problem living in Tuscany, Hawaii, and now, maybe even Kyoto. I am at the stage where I feel that the language barrier is finally starting to crumble, slowly as it may be.

So, let me begin to tell you about my time in Kyoto. First, I must concede that this may sound something like a travel brochure, but I am fine with that. Anyway, I arrived here at 2PM on Wednesday and was greeted by Allison, a friend of mine that I met under the most extraordinary circumstances while at the airport in Calgary, en route to Tokyo (but that is another story). She is also an English teacher here with the JET Programme and she came from the southern island of Kyushu to meet me in Kyoto, which is about half way between us. Anyway, she`s a lovely gal and was a great companion, although I think she must have gotten more than a little tired of my incessant picture-taking.

You see, at the mid-end of November, Kyoto is in Koyo season (which basically means fall colours). I was really looking forward to it and I must say that it is the most beautiful autumn foliage you could ever seen. I do me YOU because unless you have been here you have never seen anything like it. I know Eastern Canada is nice, but its nothing like this. Its a bold statement, I know, but you`ll believe me when you see the pictures. Ok, well, that is the setting. Combine it with perfect weather, more spectaular history, artifacts, and architecture than you can imagine and the classiest people and culture this side of Italy and you have Kyoto.

Ok, since Japan doesn`t believe in daylights savings time the days here can be a bit short, so by 5:30PM, at best, you don`t really have enough light to see many of the temples (although some are lit up at night). So, the first day was a pretty casual stroll through Gion (the geisha district) Pontocho Alley, Yasaka Shrine, Maruyama Park, and the surrounding area. Now, despite what you may have heard, geishas aren`t anything like prostitutes. I could go into it, but you can look it up yourself by clicking the link if you are interested. They are also very rare and there are only about 180-200 giesha and maiko (apprentice geisha) in all of Kyoto. In fact, here are only about 1000 left in all of Japan, so when you see one you feel really honoured and it is a bit like seeing a celebrity. The first night we were lucky enough to see three or four and the next day we saw a couple. I was hoping to just see one, but we got really lucky. There is a special atmosphere that you could feel and I kept imagining myself there 150 or even 500 years earlier walking down those same streets. I don`t think there is anywhere else where ancient and modern are so seamlessly blended. Kyoto`s charm was starting to take hold.

The next day was going to be a long day, hitting as many sites as possible. The first one we went to (Fushimi-Inari shrine) is famous for its paths, which are lined with thousands of gates. It creates a really interesting effect and you really feel like you are a hundred miles from the city, when in fact you are right in the middle of it. That would be a defining characteristic of Kyoto for me. Tokyo is an amazing place too, but for different reasons. In Tokyo you never feel like you are out of the city, whereas this freedom easy to achieve in Kyoto. Anyway, the next stop we made was our first real taste of Koyo. The temple was called Tofukuji and the colours were breathtaking. I didn`t think they could get better, but at every turn I found myself taking more and more pictures, no matter where I was. I suppose I do regret not taking more human photos, but I was completely distracted by the reds, oranges, yellow, and greens.

Now, as for the people, well, everyone I met was unjustifiably friendly and helpful and just a pleasure to talk to. They are also noticably well dressed (even the children) and do seem to be enjoying life more than most other Japanese. I also felt that Kyoto could be the most romantic city I have ever been to, maybe even moreso than Florence, and I even surprise myself by saying that. I don`t know, maybe it was just the season, but there were couples everywhere and it just seemed that love was in the air, as cheesy as that sounds. I decided I am not going back until I have a girlfriend (or at least someone that will pretend to be for a few days).

And then there is the shopping. You see, I do enjoy a good shopping trip now and then, but I really had to restrain myself. As I said, they are good dressers in Kyoto and consequently, there is not shortage of nice stuff to buy. All in all, the damage was fairly minimal, but I did need to find myself a "genuine" Japanese souvenir. I am not a big fan of cheesy and cheap souvenirs that make the rest of your house look pretty gaudy when you put them up so it was a bit tough to find something suitable, but I was not going to leave Kyoto without buying a kitana (samurai sword). The shop I bought it at had a slightly older model (made before 1470, in fact) and it was going for about $45,000 CDN. I didn`t bother ask if they accepted coupons. Mine wasn`t quite that much and hasn`t killed anybody before, but I like it. It was a pretty cool shop because it is the only sword shop in Kyoto and it lies in the shadow of Nijo Castle. The other thing I picked up were a couple of bonsai trees. These are those miniature trees that look like full-sized trees, but are about 1% the size. I went to an exhibition on them and some were over 700 years old, which is just plain unbelievable. It is pretty overwhelming when you see something in front of you that is alive that has lived through so many important events throughout history. I mean, think about it, some of these trees were already 200 years old before North America was settled by Europeans. When you have that all within your field of view it is a bit difficult to comprehend. While mine aren`t quite so old, they do look pretty darn cool and I just hope I don`t kill them (see pictures).

Anyway, I could go into more detail about all of the sites we saw, but unless you have some scope of Japanese history it may seem irrelevent to you. The truth is that you have probably seen pictures of many of the places I visited, but as they say, pictures speak a thousand words, so I will post a million or so words for you to have a look at (maybe not quite so many for those of you who actuall did the calculation). Nevertheless, here is a short list of the places I made it to. Click on the links for more information ... Honganji, Nishiki Market, Sanjusangendo, Kiyomizudera, Kodaiji, Chionin, Heian Shrine, Nanzenji, the Path of Philosophy, Ginkakuji (the Silver Pavilion), Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion) and Eikando (temple of the maple leaves).

Kyoto slideshow (part 1)
Kyoto slideshow (part 2)

EARTHQUAKE !!!

I wanted to let you know that I am going through a very difficult time in life. I mean, sure, I have lots of things to be grateful for, but the truth is that when you are in last place in your hockey pool everything else seems pretty insignificant. This has never happened to me before so hopefully my team will recover, but it will be a long road back.

Other than that, things are going great here in Snow Country, Japan. It hasn`t actually started snowing yet and probably won`t for another month or so - in fact, it is about 19 degrees today - but they are definitely preparing this area for a lot of snow. My first sign was the teepees they build over all of their manicured trees. I guess the snow gets so heavy here that is breaks the branches. Another thing they do is put 2"x6" board up at the front of some buildings. I`m told that when the snow comes off the roof it piles up so high that the boards help the snow form a wall of sorts. I suppose we`ll see how it all goes down, but I`ll try and get some pictures up in the meantime.

Speaking of pictures, I have finally posted a bunch on my spiffy new photo site so please go and view them soon because they will be gone in a couple of weeks and replaced by new pictures from Kyoto!!! Anyway, the slideshow feature is pretty cool, but I have captioned all of the photos so you might just want to flip through them manually so you can read the captions. The pictures are from when I first arrived here at the end of July up until last week, when I travelled to Nikko ...

... which, funny enough, brings me to Nikko. Nikko is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and this usually means it is old, important, and cool, but sometimes means it is old and boring. In this case, it was pretty cool. Nikko is a sprawling complex of temples and it is set in a cedar forest, which also happens to have trees that aren`t only cedars. Japan is really pretty right now because the leaves are changing colours and it is very impressive. To tell you the truth, the reason you didn`t hear from me in October is because I tried not to do anything so I could save money for November when everything looks like a postcard. Oh, and I am also getting a new car in two weeks that I am really excited about. My new car is basically a Toyota Ecco and it is scary to think that I am excited about that, but trust me, it is a big improvement. I have also come to the realization that "cool" is most definitely a relative term.

Anyway, Nikko was a pretty cool place and it was definitely old, but it helps if you know some of the history and since most of you don`t care I am not even going to try to explain it. You`re welcome. I would like to go back and take a more thorough tour of the place, but it really is a pain to get to. If you are lucky, it is a 3-hour drive from where I live (each way). If you are the average person it is a 4.5-hour drive each way. If you are a really unfortunate chap then you are looking at 5-hours and up each way and you might as well get a hotel room because that, my friends, is not a fun day-trip. Fortunately, we were mostly lucky and had 3 hours there and 5 hours back. There is a hill you have to climb which took us 1.5 hours. That sucked. It is two lanes each way, but it is literally just switchbacks the entire way up and it is about a 500 meter rise in elevation, which takes some time in a car. Indeed, you are much better to walk. How do I know? I know because there was a guy who walked past our car at the bottom and then again on his way back from the top. That was a bit hard to take.

So, after that we decided that the best way to sooth our sore muscles was to take a dip in an onsen (hot spring), which are pretty much everywhere in Japan. Seriously, if you see a mountain then you can assume there will be at least one onsen nearby. My first experience with nude bathing was not as awkward as I expected, but thank goodness it was not mixed. A minority of the onsens here are mixed. Can you imagine how awkward that would be? Anyway, about the onsen we went to, well, it smelled a little. This town on the way back from Nikko has the oldest onsen in Japan (dating from somewhere around the 8th century) so we were keen to try it. The problem was that is was a bit sulphuric for our tastes, if you know what I mean. I sure some worse things exist, but having three people in a car smelling of rotten eggs has got to be up there. Next time I will be a little more selective with my onsens.

After that we went to a curry restaurant. It was quite unique in that it had a scale that rated how hot your curry could be. I accidentally ordered level 2 (out of ten) because I thought it was normal. In fact, normal was level zero. Level 2 offered a little extra stimulation, if I remember the description correctly. I guess you could say stimulation, but I prefer to say that it was really bleeding hot. The best part of the rating system was that you weren`t actually allowed to order anything above level 5 unless you had already been there and proven that you can handle level 5. I guess it is their way of certifying you or maybe it is a fire prevention strategy.

Ok, so that was a fun day and a nice way to start my November. As for October, well, one thing I can update you on is how things are going with me and my fiancee. I still haven`t quite sorted out her name and she hasn`t actually talked to me since then, but other than that things are great. Actually, I am beginning to think that she has completely forgotten that we ever even got engaged. I joke, but this is a point of Japanese culture worth discussing. At these things called "enkais" the Japanese go drinking with their colleagues and get really drunk. They completely lower the Japanese facade of etiquette and are basically given a free pass to say and do anything they like. It is a bit scary to think about and it is really odd. One night you are best friends with someone and then the next time you see them it was like nothing ever happened. I find it extremely amusing (and annoying).

Alright, with that I don`t have too much more to say. I should have another update up by the end of November and unless something goes disastrously wrong I should have some great photos. Remember, you`re comments are not only appreciated, but are also expected because I need someone to keep me company. Thanks.

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Ok, this part was added after the fact, but I thought I should address the title of this entry. It was previously called something lame like, "News, News, News," but the truth was that I didn't have any earth-shattering news ... or did I? Well, apparently I did, but you can probably forgive me for forgetting it. You see, last week I experienced my first earthquake. Don't worry about me, I'm alright. The truth is that I slept trough it. I remember that sleep well, but no earthquake. I remember that my brother tried to instant message me on skype because I heard the barely audible beep, but noooo, not the earthquake. I am the lightest sleeper in the world - how could this happen. In case you can't tell, I am more than a little annoyed that I slept through my first earthquake because you only get so many practice runs. Everyone else here was asking me the next day, "Are you OK?" and "Did you feel the earthquake" and my only reply was, "What are you talking about?" Anyway, I am told it was not huge, but most definitely big enough to check for damage in buildings and at the very least, big enough to wake people up. Such is life, I suppose.