07/20 - Open and Closed

The arduous path

can lead to the best treasures

and the sweetest rests

When you’re ready

let’s hit the Second City

and tuck ourselves in

Today I woke up and headed on the Shinkansen once more, this time only a short trip from Nagoya to Kyoto. In Kyoto I met my friend and former student Erika and her friend Ai. I was surprised to find out Erika had driven to the station and was going to drive us around to some different destinations in Kyoto. It felt very odd being in a car for what felt like the first time in ages. I was only in a car driven by a friend once, for a very short ride in Tokyo, and only in a taxi twice in my entire 11 weeks there. Erika's car was nice too, even featuring a Canadian stuffed animal and it was a pleasure to be driven around with air conditioning to some absolutely incredible places.

The first place we went was Kinkaku-ji, or the Temple of the Golden Pavillion. It is one of the most beautiful, serene places I have ever been, even though there was tons of people visiting on account of it being a holiday weekend. Walking around the temple and the gardens and surrounding area was fantastic. Having seen so many temples already in Japan I did not expect to be nearly as impressed as I was. Seeing the gold of the temple in the sunlight and the beautiful water and fish surrounding it was superb. 

Next up we went for some lunch, where I ate one of the most delicious meals I've had in a very long time. It was curry-soba, so essentially curry and noodles. It wasn't like a curry flavour though, more like a creamy soup or stew. It came in a huge cast iron pot and was absolutely scrumptious. The girls just ate some very fancy desserts which were pretty incredible as well. 

Full of noodles, the ladies shepherded me to our next spot, the Fushimi Inari Shrine. The place is rated the number one tourist destination for foreigners in all of Japan and it didn't disappoint. At first it seems like a beautiful, very orange temple, not remarkably different from many other places I'd visited. The main difference I noticed at first was the high usage of foxes in all the decoration. As you begin to walk in through the shrine though, you quickly realize the place is unlike any other. The path is lined with torii, or gates, of which Erika had said there was about a thousand. It sounded like a lot, but I had no idea how far the paths stretched. Turns out there's more than a thousand as there are new ones being added all the time. Each gate is donated by a Japanese business or person. Some are very old but some are brand new, all painted orange and almost identical except for the varying size. The path circles up the mountain and actually takes two the three hours to walk. It's like doing an extended Grouse Grind in North Vancouver except with slightly easier terrain and constantly walking under orange gates. It's one of the most difficult places to explain to other people. Even with the use of pictures it's hard to get across what it's like to be there, so I can see why it is such a highly recommended place to visit. 

After Fushimi Inari, Erika, Ai and I went to Gion, which is known as the historic Geisha district. Both Fushimi Inari and Gion are settings in Memoirs of a Geisha, however I have not read the book or watched the movie yet. The area is very nice and old style. The storefronts are all wood and you can't really see in, making it difficult to know whether each place is a restaurant, shop or spa. Just around the corner there is also a very famous Kabuki theatre as well as some famous spots for tea. We strolled along as it got dark, checking some things out. I also had a really good green tea ice cream/drink. The city deserves it's reputation as a beautiful spot. The whole place has a nice, calm feeling, with canals and the river breaking up the city centre full of traditional architecture. To finish my time off in Kyoto the three of use sat by the main river/canal and had a nice rest. Lots of people were out for the holiday, sitting on the grass like us, or on patios or rooftops overlooking the water. 

After a busy day I was pretty exhausted, but I had to carry on to Osaka, to meet Yoshi, who was traveling down from Nagoya, as well as our friend Shohei. I met the two of them at Shin Osaka Station and we all went over to Umeda Station. There we walked around the entertainment district and got some delicious food, before playing some darts. It was a really fun night. I was amused by Shohei's tour guiding when he told me a small plaza we had walked through was famous for having guys sit there and try to pick up girls as they walked through. Another funny thing that happened was that a ton of guys flew through one of the main intersections we were at on Japanese motorbikes. They were all wearing masks and revving their engines to make as much noise as possible. Shohei and Yoshi informed me that they were actually Yakuza gangsters making their presence known, but to my untrained eye it looked much more comical than I can ever imagine a motorcycle gang looking in North America. It was somewhere between Hell's Angels and Shriners. 

To finish off the incredibly long day, Yoshi and I checked into a capsule hotel for men. I was very excited for the experience of staying in one, and once more was not disappointed. After we checked in we locked up our shoes in a shoe locker, then locked up our bags and clothes and changed into the clothes they give you at the hotel. The clerk came running in as we were changing to give more clothes to Yoshi, which were for me. I asked why I couldn't just use the clothes in the locker like Yoshi and he told me "he said you are too huge." Once we changed we headed upstairs to the lounge area, where they have a restaurant, tv area and a manga lounge where guys are hanging out reading comics from the library provided. Men of all ages were hanging out on chairs and on the floor, chatting, eating and reading, despite the fact it was about three in the morning. We sat down and watched the last two holes of the British Open, seeing Rory Mcilroy finish off his victory. When the golf ended we went to the onsen, or spa area. It was way nicer than I expected, with many different hot tubs all with open windows and vines and plants at their sides. We had to go in naked, which is standard and first wash using the squat style showers. I was very surprised after getting naked to notice that there are fully clothed women working in the nude area of the men's only capsule hotel. It was very relaxing though, and I was again surprised by how busy it was between three and four AM. 

Finally, we went off to bed, where I walked down the halls lined with sleeping men and crawled into my capsule for the first time. It was equipped with a shelf, plug, control panel for temperature and for the small TV inside. I had to sleep diagonally if I wanted to fully stretch out, but it was actually pretty comfortable. It also didn't feel very claustrophobia-inducing, because even though there were plastic walls on all sides, the entrance closed with a wooden mat pull-down curtain. I feel like I could easily stay in capsule hotels in the future without any reticence. 

Today's title refers to both my day as a whole in a kind of sarcastic way, the way Fushimi Inari is in nature yet almost tunnelled off with gates and of course the capsule I slept in. The first haiku refers to the time I spent in Kyoto, which at times included some strenuous trekking, but also led to absolutely amazing spots and some exquisite rests. The second haiku is about heading to Osaka, which is often considered Japan's second city after Tokyo. More on that in tomorrow's entry.

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