CODY SHIMIZU

A look into my life, a journal to look back on, a blog for others to see.

The train ride out of Koyasan was absolutely stunning! It had been cloudy and raining a little the whole time I was in Koyasan, but that morning the sun was just rising over the mountains pouring light into the valley as the little train made its way along the mountain side. After a quick stop at Osaka to pick up a hat that I totally did not leave at the hostel... anyways once in Kyoto already at the station there were people dressed in Kimono`s. I quickly dropped off my bags at my Hostel and first headed to Ginkakuji (Silver Pavillion) It is the smaller brother of the more famous Kinkakuji (Golden Pavillion) where Id be visiting tomorrow. In all honesty it was great but didnt live up to all of the hype surrounding it, it sounds bad when you put it this way but it was like most other buildings with similar old designs; only with a beautiful garden surrounding the pavilion. From just outside the grounds there a path called the philosophers path where apparently a famous Japanese philosopher would walk daily to collect his mind, unfortunately when I went it was a little too early to see the cherry blossoms blooming as they lined either side of the entire path.

The path lead me to Nanzenji temple there they have a HUUGE Sanmon Gate, and a few other temples on the grounds, but with the time, and my personal lack of interest in the temple I decided not to enter. But I was there to check out the beautiful brick aqua duct that was built in the Meiji Period (late 1800s I think) It was so weird, and unexpected to see a large brick structure in the middle of all this traditional wooden building of Japan. It was absolutely mesmorizing, as this structure was a little surrounded by some beautiful greenery, tucked away off to the side. It looked like something from a Ghibli film!

I left Nanzenji and took a bus towards Kiyomizu-dera, apparently it is one of the most celebrated temples of Japan, and the name literally translating to (Pure Water Temple). By there entrance there is a beautiful gate, and a pagoda, but it is the most famous for a stage that extends out from the main temple which rests 13 meters above ground. It was an amazing views to looking over eastern Kyoto. Since this was a UNESCO World Heritage sight it was much much busier than the Ginkakuji, or Nanzenji, which I visited earlier. Unfortunatly at this point in the day my DSLR camera had run out of battery, I was crying on the inside TBH. So I couldnt get the “amazing” photos I was hoping for (INSERT SAD FACE HERE FML)

For dinner I went to a sushi restaurant that was recommended by one of the hostel staff. It was right along Pontocho where it was a wide river running through Kyoto, and usually the restaurants along the Pontocho is really expensive but this place was $2 for a plate of sushi (2 pieces) which is very cheap. Also the cool thing was that since I was alone I got to sit at the counter where I got to actually see the chefs making the sushi right in front of me. Although I had to wait about an hour to get into the restaurant, it was totally worth it! The neta (fish) was on the larger size and the rice was the perfect size, and taste to compliment the sushi. One thing, never ever order whale, I mean NEVER! It was the most wretched thing Ive ever tasted in my life I ordered it not knowing what to expect, and let me warn you it tasted absolutely awful, but other than that it was amazing. Just another thing about Pontocho, it was used as the setting for a Detective Conan Movie (I swear on my life that’s the ONLY anime I watch) so to actually go there and see it in person and the accuracy in the movie was awesome to see.

Today was the one full day I had in Kyoto, I woke up bright and early whilst everybody else in my room was sleeping I tiptoed out of my room to go visit the Fushimi-Inari Taisha, another very instafamous location which I was planning to visit yesterday but since my camera battery died I saved it for today. Fushimi-Inari Taisha is famous for the incredible number of the red torii gates that covers the trails, near the entrance it is the most dense and as you go further along the trail the torii gates are a little more spread out, it was incredible, for the first 500m of the trails the gates are so tightly packed that it blocks the light out making it almost like a tunnel. As you go up the trail you meet up at a junction where it splits off into a loop that goes to the top of the mountain.

The total distance is around 4Km and the entire path is covered by torii gates, just the sheer number of them is incredible. Its really one of those places that you hear about and is hard to believe until you actually go there to see it for yourself. There really is no words that I can think of the describe the experience of actually walking through thousands of torii gates.

After I made my way to the other side of Kyoto to get to Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), by the time I got there it was already around noon, and since it was one of the most famous attractions in the area, it was absolutely packed. To the point almost where it kind of took away from the whole, experience. Just constant yelling of the staff begging people to keep moving, and a hoard of foreign tourists waving their selfie sticks around, but it was definitely worth the visit. As you make your way to the other side of the pond you can actually get quite close to the pavilion. Its really just unbelievable, like what? Why? How? Dafaq?? An entire building, completely plated in gold…

After trying my best to enjoy the view, it was a short walk to get to Ryoanji Temple, where they have an incredibly popular rock garden, where it is meticulously maintained daily. A cool feature of the garden is that from any point you look at it there is at least one rock that is out of view. Unfortunatly little is known about the creator of the garden adding the mystery behind the meaning behind their work. The grounds around the garden is beautiful as well with a few other buildings to explore and another small pond with a miniature island that you can get to by a small bridge.

Afterwards I was planning on heading further west to visit the Arashiyama area but since I still had another day in Kyoto I decided to head back towards Kyoto Station and explore around there. The area seemed to be very modern and updated. There were a bunch of small malls, and shopping arcades to visit and look around, and after a quick stop at Starbucks I headed back to Pontocho where I tried to see if I could find any Geisha`s. This tradition is still kept alive and well in Kyoto especially in the Pontocho area. Apparently you could sometimes spot them going to and from work, around 5pm but unfortunately I couldnt find any to take selfies with.

After having some amazing ramen, I headed back to my hostel to plan out for the next two days. At this point the plan was to explore the Arashiyama area of Kyoto then head back to Tokyo, but on my Japan Rail Pass (Where I have access to all the bullet trains in Japan with that pass) I still had an extra day after. I really didnt want to waste any of the JR pass so I was contemplating where I wanted to go. I was trying to decide between Hakone, and Nikko. I ended up choosing Hakone since the last time I was in Japan I visited Hakone with my parents and wanted to see if I really remember any of it, as well as at the hostel in Kyoto, I actually met people from Edmonton, and they were telling me about how they came from Hakone, and they were telling me about how nice the weather was as well. I quickly went online and booked a Hostel in Hakone.