Today we quite literally spedrun some of Kyotos most popular sightseeing destinations. Many of these temples and shrines are considered national treasures of Japan, and it was genuinely some of the most gorgeous scenery and gardens I’ve ever been to.
First, we saw the Kinkaku-ji temple. Known for its golden exterior and pavilion architecture, it overlooked a gorgeous pond and picturesque scenery. The photos genuinely do not do it justice.
Next, we headed to the Arashiyama Area where we saw another gorgeous temple and zen garden, as well as an amazing bamboo forest. I felt so small in comparison to the bamboo. At the Arashiyama area we got some delicious udon before hitting the road once again.
Our next destination on the tour was the Kiyomizu-dera temple. This temple is known for its amazing mountain-top view of Kyoto and its iconic red temples. This temple is a Buddhist temple, with Buddhism being one of the major religions practiced in Japan. Again, pictures and words cannot do this view justice. The Kiyomizu temple was my personal favorite destination of the day.
Finally, we headed to the Fushimi-Inari Shinto shrine.
This shrine is a Shinto shrine. Shintoism is the native religion of Japan, and is known for its red Torii gates and emphasis on natural deities found everywhere in life. This particular shrine is protected by the fox messenger, or Imari. We walked through 1,000 Torii gates, and sometime in the future I would love to do the full 2 hour hike up the mountain through all the gates.
Before heading to Kyoto, we had some time to kill and went to the aquarium. I expected it to be a lot smaller than it was, and I really enjoyed getting to see manta rays, seals, and otters!
After the aquarium, we boarded the bullet train! The train ride was about 2-3 hours long and I listened to music and watched the beautiful countryside and mountains as we traveled.
Once in Kyoto, we met up with some professors from KCG and had a wonderful welcome dinner. Dinner consisted of 10 courses where we were able to sample traditional Japanese foods. I’m not a huge seafood fan, but I did give the raw squid and sashimi a try.
That night I was tired after a long day of traveling, and definitely was happy to relax at the hotel. The hotel aesthetic was a nice fusion of modern minimalist with some traditional Japanese style and bathroom. I especially enjoyed the complimentary night robes we were given, they were so comfy!
Day 3 was an action packed day filled with sightseeing some of the most famous sites in Kyoto. After a quick boxed breakfast at 7, everyone was on the bus fully oriented with our guide by 8:30. Our first stop was Kinkakuji. I knew that it was going to be crowded, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and I got a few good pictures. The ticket was also an item to keep in your doorway to bring good fortune.
There were also places where you threw money into a small hole. If your coin made it into the hole, it would bring you good luck, which I did. Will I be extra lucky in my future?
Next, we went to the Tenryuji temple and bamboo forest. The forest was really pretty, but a little crowded.
The nearby river
Afterwards, we had lunch at a small karaage shop. I also got shaved ice for desert.
More strawberry than a strawberry
After lunch, we went to the Kiyomizudera temple and the historic area leading up to it. This was the iconic Kyoto that I had been looking for.
Last on the tour was my favorite place, Fushimi Inari shrine. I will definitely be coming here on my free day.
We quickly proceeded to an anime screening of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train.
We ended the day with dinner at the food court where I bought Indian food where the naan was not Japanese size.
Aside from the very, strong, choices of interior design, I couldn’t flush the toilet unless I turned on the room light, which was not very pleasant for when one of us had to go in the middle of the night.
After freshening up and heading down to the breakfast area, we had the incredible fortune to be introduced to our guide Yoko, whose passion for Kyoto was evident from the get-go. She was very knowledgeable about not only the area, but about Japan in general, and was a great conversationalist!
Boarding the tour bus, we were all eager to immerse ourselves in the history and culture of Kyoto. And let me tell you, the day did not disappoint. (Though it very much did wear us down.)
First on our list was Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, a Zen temple with its top two floors entirely covered in gold leaf. A sight to behold! Even if it isn’t quite as chrome and shiny as you might expect, the nature surrounding it was even more breathtaking, a seemingly perfect aesthetic masterpiece. I always can’t help but imagine what it would be like to exist there without any others, simply kicking back and admiring the scenery.
From Kinkakuji, our journey took us to Arashiyama. This place is largely known for its immense bamboo groves. Walking among the path of this was simply unreal! Especially looking down from above.
We took a walk around the surrounding city for lunch, where I indulged in some delicious wagyu croquettes and Arashiyama Tenryuu ramen at an authentic sit-down side restaurant. With the company of my group mates, the meal was a delight.
Afterwards, we made our way to Kiyomizudera, one of the most celebrated temples of Japan. The wooden terrace that juts out from the main hall, overlooking the city and lush mountains, was a sight to behold.
From Kiyomizudera, we took a stroll down the crowded Ninenzaka and Sannenzaka – quaint, sloping lanes lined with shops selling all sorts of traditional goods. It was here I found an enchanting kitsune mask that I just had to buy! I really like how it looks on me.
Our next stop was Fushimi-Inari, a shrine famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates. Winding our way up the path, we were enveloped by a striking tunnel of red, each gate carrying the name of the donor. The atmosphere was incredibly serene, despite the amount of people visiting! Thankfully, we didn’t need to bow underneath each one, haha.
The day concluded with a visit to Kyoto Computer Gakuin, where we were greeted warmly by the staff. After some casual chat, we settled in for an anime screening of the Demon Slayer movie Mugen Train. Although fully knowing the movie’s setup and ending, it was an excellent way to wind down after a full day of cultural exploration.
After the screening, we were tasked with making it back to the hotel by ourselves. Since the Aeon mall was close by, we decided to check our the food court. I ended up just getting a small bowl of fried rice, and some gyoza that tasted a bit too good. All that exercise had me FIENDING, haha.
But at this point, the lengthiness of the day and the heavy demand on our legs was getting to us. Eyes grew droopy, the battery drained faster, all that. After a 15 minute walk, we were back.
By the time I got back to my room, my legs felt like they were about to give out. Between the 7AM wakeup, a day packed full of sightseeing, and the late-night anime screening, it was safe to say my bed had me like a moth to a flame.
We woke up early and had a very nice breakfast-box. We were introduced to our tour guide who taught us some basic Japanese and gave us the rundown of our visits during the day. Afterwards, we hopped on the bus and began our trip around Kyoto.
Our first location was the Kinkaku-ji Shrine, known for its Golden Pavilion. It was absolutely gorgeous and learning the history behind it’s petty construction was super interesting to hear. We also learned about the waterfall of carp-to-dragon evolution and I was able to sink two coins into the spiritual pots.
The Golden Pavilion
After a quick roundtrip around the shrine, we hopped on the bus and speed towards the Arashiyama Area, where we would see the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. I’ve always loved the bamboo look and aesthetic, and to see a whole park covered in it was surely a sight to see.
A path in the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove
After the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, we went to go get some lunch in the Arashiyama Area. Maddy, Brody, Esther, and I found a nice little hole-in-the-wall place where I had some amazing beef udon and a cola. Afterwards, we found the rest of the group at the local train station and got some ice cream. However, our tight schedule had little room for leisure, so we hopped onto the bus and continued our journey around Kyoto.
Our third place was Kiyomizu-dera Temple, a Zen Buddhist Temple. Personally, this was my favorite location of the day. The views were incredible, the architecture was unique, and the overall aesthetic was tranquil. Though it was extremely busy, I loved being on top of the stage, looking above almost all of Kyoto.
A view from the front of the Kiyomizu-dera TempleThe view from further onto the stage of the Kiyomizu-dera Temple
I forgot to mention that the walk up towards the temple was also super cute and quaint. We walked through what was essentially a Japanese Diagon Alley, with plenty of food and apparel flanking the small street. After our visit to Kiyomizu-dera Temple, I found a honey drink place where I got a delicious mango-honey float.
Our last location was the Fushimi-Inari Temple, a Shinto temple with 10,000 torii gates! We did a small prayer before walking up a little bit of the path around the mountain. Unfortunately, we didn’t have 2 hours to spare, nor the energy to climb, and we had to cut our trip short, but mot without some amazing sights.
Me standing beneath the torii gates
We also went to a small shrine, where we made a wish and picked up a rock (a crude explanation for what was actually happening), the rock symbolized the weight of our wishes. My rock was easier to lift than expected, which hopefully means my wish will be easier to achieve.
After our abridged visit to Fushimi-Inari Temple, we went to KCG’s school and watched Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Mugen Train, which would make it my fourth viewing of the movie. Afterwards, we were let loose to get dinner, where most of us went to the AEON Mall food court.
Our trip through Kyoto was quick, but still awesome. I could’ve easily spent a whole day in each area. I am excited to continue experiencing Japanese culture, especially through our meditation and tea ceremony in the morning!
Today was exhausting, but full of cultural knowledge and a lot of great photo ops. We visited one shrine, two temples, and the famous bamboo forest. This blog will be lots of pictures, both because I don’t have much to talk about and because I’m falling asleep as I write this!
The first place we visited was the Kinkaku-ji temple, most well known for the golden temple that lay at the middle of its grounds. This temple was covered in gold leaf to make a statement about how wealthy the shogun was when he retired, but is not completely preserved in time as it has burned down twice since it’s construction. The most recent was in the 1950s, which is pretty close to us when you consider that this temple has been around since the late 14th century.
Next, we visited the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, which was absolutely gorgeous. Being able to walk through something that I’ve seen so many videos of online was a really weird feeling. We did walk through a small portion of a nearby temple, but the bamboo forest was certainly the highlight. We were also able to get lunch in the surrounding shopping market, where we got some nice large chicken nuggets (listen, last night was a lot for me, i needed some comfort today) and a strawberry and vanilla ice cream cone. I was also able to snag a chocolate bun and some canned maple bread from the Miffy-themed bakery near the food court where we ate.
After that we visited one of the coolest parts of Tokyo in my opinion, which is the Kiyomizu-dera temple and the surrounding shopping district. The path leading up to the temple has preserved a traditional aesthetic, and even more modern stores like Starbucks still feel ancient compared to other things we’ve seen so far.
We are planning on returning here for our free day so that we can visit when it’s a bit less crowded, but the views from the temple are very pretty and we were able to get a group photo here that I’m sure will be in everyone’s post for today. I love the red and gold aesthetic of all of the shrines in Japan, and this one certainly did not disappoint while also having its own flair.
Finally, we visited the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which is the only Shinto shrine that we visited and also a very popular tourist spot. The sheer number of gates that we walked through is really cool – each gate was donated to the shrine by someone for anywhere from 300,000 yen ($2,000) to well over a million yen for a large one. There is a two hour hiking trail that I’m sure would be very fun, but after all of the walking we’ve done since getting here I don’t think my body would survive it.
Once we were done with the bus tour, we were dropped off at KCG’s main building for an anime movie showing. We watched Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train (long name, I know – those are pretty common for animated Japanese movies) and I honestly really enjoyed it. The animation style and quality of the movie is fantastic, and this might have convinced me to finally watch the anime.
To finish the day, we got food at a local mall’s food court. I got some pork dumplings, while Jessica, Chloe and Skylar got the biggest naan we’ve ever seen. We have to be up super early tomorrow for a meditation and tea ceremony, so expect some more traditional cultural vibes tomorrow!
Today was a wonderfully busy day! We covered 4 whole temples in Kyoto in the span of about 6 hours, and I still can’t believe we managed to see them all.
The first temple we visited was Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion, a building constructed by a Shogun as a way to showcase their wealth and influence. Each story of the building is meant to represent a certain class level, starting at the bottom with Emperor, followed by the second level that represents Samurai, and finally the first level which represents Buddhism or the Buddha themselves. The temple itself was beautiful, surrounded by a large pond and gardens, and having gold leaf completely coat the top two levels! There were a lot of people and it got very crowded, but the serenity of the nature surrounding the temple made it worth it.
View of the Golden Pavilion from the pond’s shore!
Afterwards, we sped on over to Tenryu-ji temple in Kyoto’s Arashiyama district, a Buddhist temple site thats consists of one main temple surrounded by numerous other smaller sub-temples and gardens. This temple was one of my favorites, as the large amount of gardens created such nice scenery and really brought into perspective the beauty of nature. The bamboo forest within the temple grounds was breathtaking as well, and the shoots were so tall they seemed to reach towards the sky. The path we followed culminated in a wonderful view of the nearby mountains and a river, which created an environment that I used to only see in books or online. This temple was truly an amazing experience, and probably my favorite of the four we visited!
The scenery and nature of this temple was stunning.
After Tenryu-ji, we spent an hour in Arashiyama and tried some of the local food there! I got some kokoroge, which is a croquet with different types of filling, as well as my first bowl of ramen in Japan, both of which were delcious! I also managed to find some matcha ice cream soft serve before we boarded our tour bus again, and while it was tasty, the green match powder also got all over my shirt!
The food haul!
Our third temple of the day was Kiyomizu-dera in eastern Kyoto, an extremely popular temple famous for its views and wooden platform that rests high above the ground. The view from the platform was amazing, and I could see for miles! A nice old man who was Japanese even came up to me and Megan and offered to take our picture for us, and complimented our Japanese 😀 I was also able to buy a stamp book, one as a souvenir and one to hopefully fill up with my temple stamps!
The walk up to the temple went through a traditional/historical street! Kiyomizu-dera’s views and scenery was breathtaking!
Our fourth and final temple of the day was the Fushimi Inari Shrine, a Shinto shrine that’s known for its iconic red Tori gates (over 1,000 of them!) I was able to try praying at the shrine, and walk through some of the many gates! It really made me feel connected to and gave perspective on Japanese spirituality, and is an experience I’ll remember for a long while.
The gates were so cool to see, and walk through as well!
Our day then began to wrap up with a movie screening of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, which was really interesting as I had never watched Demon Slayer before. The animation was great, and I still had some wet eyes towards the end despite not really knowing any of the characters beforehand. After finshing the movie and grabbing a last minute dinner at the food court in a nearby mall, our group finally headed back to our hotel and turned in for the night, bringing another busy and fruitful day to a close.
Woke up at 7:30am(??) to eat breakfast in the hotel lounge (@ anteroom kyoto).
Simple but yummy! I love smoked salmon toast.
We met our lovely tour guide Yuuko-sensei and headed out on our long day of touring at around 9:15am.
Since we all visited the same places today, I’ll post just my favorites!
My nicer photos & videos are still on my SD card…in my camera.
The tldr is that we visited & saw lots of shrines & important religious/cultural landmarks today (Kinkakuji -> Arashiyama Bamboo forest -> Fushimi Inari)! These are all places I’ve seen lots of shows & series referencing, as well as just seeing gorgeous photos of them online in general; it was incredible to see them for myself now, and our guide did an amazing job giving us succinct descriptions of each locations’ history & significance.
This bridge wasn’t mentioned as part of our tour, but I noticed the name on a sign while we were walking through Arashiyama and asked our guide, Miss Yuuko, about it. I had recognized the name surprisingly from a Kuraki Mai song before ever actually seeing photos of the bridge, and she and I sang a bit of her songs together while we walked around?! I have never been so glad of my knowledge of J-musicians until today.
After our tour ended, we were taken to KCG’s campus and straight to the theater room to watch Mugen train together and to meet with more important faculty!
This is my 5th time watching this film, and I swear it hurts me more each time. It took all my energy to not audibly sob like how I normally do at home, and I think this drained me more than after all the walking from earlier today (I miss u every day rengoku).
Maybe a little weird of me but I took the chance during one of the less engaging scenes of Mugen Train to make a quick trip to the restroom outside, and it was really nice!! While the stalls were small, it was clean and I really liked how the restroom was designed?! The view out the big window inside was lovely.
After the movie (and trying to hide my waterfall of snot & visible tears), we all headed to yet another food court within the station nearby for dinner.
I got udon. Again!
Kakeudon again, this time with ebi tempura and a singular inari, to celebrate our trip to fushimi inari taisha today.
I’ve finished typing this post exactly at midnight, and we’re set to wake up in about 7 hours for another early day tomorrow!
Combining 2 days into one since I KO’d the past few days
05/21/2023
Today we were scheduled to meet up with everyone at Shinagawa Prince Hotel. As our group arrived a few days ahead of schedule, we had to travel from our prior accommodation in Oshiage to Shinagawa. We left at around 10:00am.
Cam and I absolutely passed away today. We went from Oshiage -> Shinagawa, then saw the discord ping notifying us that Shinagawa was not the right place after we had already spent a good amount of time hauling our luggage from the station to Shinagawa Prince Hotel (we had to climb multiple slopes while getting lost around that hotel).
We were told to go to Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa, so while looking for the main entrance of Shinagawa Prince Hotel, we switched directions and had to climb up many more slopes to the Takanawa Hotel. We checked our luggage in early and thought all was well enough to go grab food before the check-in at 2pm. It was around noon at this point.
Cam and I met up with Skylar to go to our first family restaurant at Royal Host! I ordered omurice & garlic toast.
We also took a quick trip to Akiba to check out the Hololive x Kanda Matsuri collab since it was its last day!
On our way home, we saw once again another change in plans, in that Shinagawa WAS the right place after all. We had to make the walk of shame to the luggage desk and let them know that we wouldn’t be checking in at that location after all, but luckily there was a free shuttle to all the surrounding Prince Hotels so we didn’t have to carry our luggage through the heat back to Shinagawa.
After that very eventful travel journey, we met up in the hotel lobby at 6pm to get our rail pass vouchers exchanged for the real thing and we all went to the food court in the nearby station for dinner before retiring for the night.
Kakeudon for dinner!
05/22/2023
We woke up early today to grab breakfast before taking our trip to Kyoto! We were scheduled to stay in Shinagawa Prince Hotel for one night before heading to Kyoto, and I have to say, that hotel was severely underwhelming for how much extra facilities they had to offer. Shinagawa boasts an aquarium, bowling alleys, etc etc, but the room had pillows that were too soft and didn’t offer nice support, and the comforter!!!! was so!!!! uncomfortable!!! scratchy and thin….
Anyway, we got a small squad to get breakfast together consisting of Jess, Megan, and Belle, with Skyler and Liam joining us a bit later. We went to The City Bakery at around 8am. *takes note if I ever visit again in the future*
I picked up a croque monsieur, some thick bread slices & maple bacon french toast. I saved much of the bread for takeout, and then also ordered an eggs benedict set for dining in. Yummy!
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to get ready to check out and travel to Kyoto. A bit before 2pm, we all met up once again in the hotel lobby to set out for the station. It was my first time riding the shinkansen, and it was painfully uneventful due to how cramped we all were. I had planned on getting some work done, but our group was packed into the space and I ended up taking many mini naps while sneaking peeks at the scenery outside and praying for my phone battery to make it through the day.
Once we arrived, we were greeted by KCG faculty and they were very hospitable and kind! Our luggage was loaded onto a bus while we were treated to an amazing 10 course(?) meal at a restaurant called Ganko(?).
My phone battery KO’d after the third course but it was all very tasty! (Minus the faux savory tofu dessert…)
Today was the big “lets see Kyoto!” Day! The day started early around 730 for breakfast and our tour guide showed up around 8:30 to give us a precursor of Japan.
After our little lecture we drove to Kinkaku-Ji temple! You’ve probably seen photos of this temple from the Internet but it is a gold temple in the middle of a water garden. It was beautiful. We took many photos.
After Kinkaku-Ji we headed to Tenryu-Ji. It was this pretty palace that had zen and regular gardens. It was very photogenic.
After that we went to the Arashiyama Bamboo forest!!! This is a very popular spot on social media and it was so pretty. We walked around the forest and down to the main drag for lunch. We were able to walk down this really pretty river with boats and a lot of people in kimonos. For lunch, I got karaage ( fried chicken), fired masked potatoes, and some soft serve ice cream for dessert. It was getting pretty warm and sunny out so I felt my face starting to go a bit red.
After lunch we boarded back on our tour bus and headed out to Kiyomizu-dera. This was a beautiful temple that presided in the older part of Kyoto. Before the temple were a lot of stairs up through the town and all the small local shops. There were so many people. I’m planning on going back there for my free day on Friday!
When we got to the temple we all took a deep breath and walked some more. From the angle of view we were able to see all of Kyoto and the mountains in the area. The temple itself was beautiful as well. The temple had a lot of fountains with purified water for people to wish upon. I was taking some photos for Fabian when an older Japanese gentleman offered to take photos of us. He was really nice and complimented our Japanese :D! On our way back down the stairs I ended up buying a kitsune mask, some more star candy, and a cute Kirby token that said Kyoto! Here’s the photos:
Our last stop of the day was at Fushimi Inari Shrine. This shrine is well known for its many many Torii gates. Torii gates are typically red gates symbolizing our connections to the deities according to Shintoism. This particular shrine had foxes as the messenger to the spirits so there were different types of fox statues everywhere. Depending on what the fox was holding depended on the blessing. We ended up only walking about 1000 Torii gates but there are so so so many more the higher you go up the trail. We turned at the first point we could since everyone was getting tired and the day was close to over. Not only was this really cool to see but also very aesthetic and crowded. We were lucky enough to get some good photos while we walked.
We then piled into the bus one more time to go to KCG for the first time. We had an anime screening and met with some more professors at the school. We watched Mugen Train from Demon Slayer. I love that movie and I’m glad a lot of the class seemed to enjoy it. We also go to see the old computers KCG had. I’ll definitely take a closer look at that at some point.
After the movie we all got together and went to dinner at Aeon mall. We all had some food, talked about our day, and walked back to the hotel exhausted. I took a quick shower. Fun fact the showers in our hotel at traditional. This means that there’s a floor that drains and a bathtub. You use the faucet and out water in a bowl to wash your body outside the tube. Once you’re clean you can use the tub to bathe. Ok that’s all for today! See you tomorrow!
