Monday, March 31 - Kyoto

Today Vaso and I started our journey to Kyoto. I woke up bright and early at 7pm to get the rest of my things ready and head down for breakfast. Our train left at 10 which meant I needed to leave the house a little before 9 in order to catch it. At breakfast my host father must have mistaken me at some point, because he thought the train left at 9 and I needed to be out of the house way sooner than that. He kept telling my “you gotta go! You gotta go!” until finally I asked him why I should be in such a hurry. Parents don’t listen too well do they? The weather for today was rain, so I grabbed my umbrella before heading out. I got out the door and met Vaso in Shinjuku at 9 to head to Tokyo and catch the Shinkansen. On the ride there we decided what to do in Kyoto. Before arriving, we ate some snacks that my host family made me take along which included an onigiri, mandarin, and tea.



Upon arriving at Kyoto station, we immediately ran into Ayana (it really surprised me because meeting inside a train station in Tokyo is nearly impossible). Vaso and I had decided that we wanted to see some castles and now we had a guide to show us. We shoved our baggage into a locker in the station and hopped on the subway towards Nijo. We arrived in less than 20 minutes which is amazing compared to the first time I went to Kyoto. The Nijo castle was closed when I last visited, but today it was fully open to the public. We walked around the outside checking out the landscapes before heading inside. It was really cool because everything was left as it was hundreds of years ago. Unlike other castles, Nijo has not been turned into a museum or anything. Everything was made of wood and tatami, the floorboards creaked when you stepped on them, there were scenes of meetings in a couple of the rooms, the air was cold and crisp. Everything was just how a castle should feel. I was really impressed with it. Even to this day Vaso says that Nijo is his favorite place in Kyoto. Back outside we walked around the garden a little more. It rained a little, but I had my trusty umbrella to keep at least two of us out of the rain. We took turns taking pictures of each other in front of various objects in various poses. It was a lot of fun.



Next we went to Heian-Jingu (the imperial palace). On the way there we passed this massive red gate towering over the road in front of us. It arched over the 3 lane street that passed through it. I made the comment that it looked really “heavy” and Vaso burst out laughing. My English has most definitely gotten weirder after speaking Japanese for so long.



Anyway, we did not go into the imperial palace, but we saw the outside of it. There was a huge wide entrance way that looked like a coliseum. During all of this, Ayana had been trying to contact one of her friends to join us. Finally they set up a meeting point, so instead of going into the castle we returned and started walking towards the shopping district Gion.

Mai Mai was waiting for us inside the Takashimaya department store. This made our adventure better as Vase talked to Ayana and I talked to Mai Mai for the rest of the time today. We first went to a coffee shop to better get to know each other (not to mention we were tired from all the walking!) Mai Mai and Ayana are the same age and from the same school (which I recently found out was not Kyoto University.) They also belong to some sort of Nomikai (drinking) club that was going to have a party tonight. Vaso and I decided that it would probably be best to return home at that time because 1: we don’t want to spend the money and 2: it would mean staying out late.

After talking for a good hour we returned to our temple viewing expedition. This time we went to a smaller temple that had tons of street vendors. We also spotted a crowd of people gathered around something that we needed to check out. It was a street performer who was really good at juggling and cube stacking. When he lit up torches to juggle, it almost immediately started raining. Luckily I had my trusty umbrella which at least covered myself and Mai Mai. A quick glance to my right and I saw a beautiful rainbow extending from the mountains. The sun was still shining brightly on my left. It was a very weird experience.



In any case, it started raining harder so we decided to ditch the temples and find someplace warm inside. Where else to get out of the rain than a sweets shop right next door? After ordering we decided plans for tonight. Vaso called up his friend D, and found out that he was not going to be in until 11pm or so. We had to find something to do until then. Ayana and Mai Mai invited us to the nomikai to pass the time. We really didn’t want to pay the $30 for the entrance fee (that is an entire night of good sleep!) but we decided that it was better to go than to sit around waiting. After some ice cream, we went to the train station and met up with about 30 other people. It is so weird how knowing my knowing of one person from Niigata led to meeting up with a huge group of people in Kyoto.



Needless to say they were surprised to see two foreigners show up to their club meeting. They were also amazed that we could communicate in their own language. Vaso and I broke off and didn’t talk to each other the rest of the night. We walked over to the izakaya talking and laughing with the natives of Kyoto. We had a good time eating, drinking, and meeting new people. Let me tell you it was an interesting lot. Everyone seemed to have some quirky aspect that amplified with the passing of a few drinks. Once the party was over I asked what I owed and they said that it was covered already. Apparently the group was so large that the izakaya didn’t charge us for 2 extra people. Cool, free dinner and drinks!



That night most of the people went bowling. Vaso and I had the chance to go and sleep, but D said that he wanted to join us for bowling instead. We ended up staying out until well past 2 in the morning. We got 3 lanes for bowling with groups of 4 people. A lot of the attendees just sat around watching. I managed to bowl my highest score ever of 153 which was second highest of the night. Needless to say I was pleased about that. Overall, my team lost every time, but it was still a lot of fun.



After departing from there, Vaso and I walked about 30 minutes back to Kyoto station to grab our stuff. It was so creepy being the only 2 people walking around the enormous station at night seeing no other souls. We grabbed our stuff and decided to split a taxi to D’s apartment. We had no idea where it was anyways. Once there our sleeping arrangement was 3 people lying horizontally on a futon, with the lower half of our bodies on the floor. There were only 2 blankets so I used my jacket as one. The arrangements sucked, but it was free.