Tag: Kyoto Bus Tour

Speedrunning Kyoto, any%

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 Temple
The 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!

Templetrotters

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!