Japan Training Arc

My time and experiences in the land of the rising sun

[kadokane]

So tomorrow I go to Okinawa, the Hawaii of Japan. I honestly can't wait, it will be epic. My beach filler / school field trip arc begins!

[kadokane]

So you understand, a Game Freak designer looked at Tou-ji and saw this. And he probably said something along the lines of, "See that tower? Imagine a giant fucking fire chicken on top of it. Yeah. That sounds awesome. Lets do it."

[kadokane]

5/5

The final location on my trip to Kyoto was Tou-ji, the East Temple. It, along with its counterpart Sai-ji, the West Temple, were constructed to protect Kyoto. However, Sai-ji burned to the ground, leaving only Tou-ji standing. Does this sound familiar? If you have played Pokemon Gold and Silver it should. These two were the models for the Brass and Tin Towers of Ecruteak City. Though I did not get to see much here, as a Pokemon fan, this place was special.

[kadokane]

5/5

Some finally scenery from the mountainside walk in Kiyomizudera. It was an amazing final view of Kyoto. (though there is still one other place I went after...)

[kadokane]

5/5

Some of the people and things we saw around Kiyomizudera. I don't know why or for what reason, but someone brought these adorable bunnies and left them on the sacred rock. It was really cute, but weird (like most of Japan I guess...). Also there was this monk asking for money, but all I could think was that he looked like he fought demons daily.

[kadokane]

5/5

Some actual photos of Kiyomizudera. When you get in, it takes you along this long mountain path with a simply incredible view. Definitely a noted trend of these temples in Kyoto is that they like high places.

[kadokane]

5/5

On the way up to Kiyomizudera, we saw all these cool metal plaques with different zodiac signs on them. Being the completionist I am, I was disappointing when they didn't have them all, but the ones they did have were amazing. I particularity liked the snake.

[kadokane]

5/5

After the Imperial Palace we went to Kiyomizudera, the most visited temple in Kyoto. It was really an impressive walk up to the mountain side entrance. It was a constant slope up, going through various shops and restaurants. We even saw a Geisha! It was also Children's Day when we went, so there was a lot of cool mini performances and people in classical formal attire. Definitely an interesting time to be there.

[kadokane]

5/5

So on the last day in Kyoto, the first place w visited was the Imperial Palace Park. Unfortunately, we were unable to go inside, but we could see some of the gates and the park was absolutely gorgeous.

[kadokane]

5/4

So here is the last of the random pictures from day 3 in Kyoto. So Japan is a fairly safe country. There is very little violent crime in the country. However, most common crime is chikan, molestation and sexual harassment. So they have various posters saying to beware and all that kind of stuff, but most of them make the victims look helpless. However, in this poster, the girls look ready for a fight and will take no one's shit. It was a really awesome and different type of cautionary poster from most of the ones that I had seen in Japan. It was really cool.

[kadokane]

5/4

Random pictures from Kyoto day 3 continues! So they were selling a tradition Kyoto sweet (an expensive one that I only tried from the free samples everywhere haha) in beautifully packaged Madoka Magica boxes. I was quite tempted to buy one until my sense came in to just take a picture of the box, and here we are.

[kadokane]

5/4

Random picture number 1 from my third day in Kyoto. There was this takoyaki (fried octopus ball) restaurant in between Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji that had a weird robot octopus on top of it. I was really curious to try it, but we had to rush to catch a bus and I couldn't. but one day, I will eat this mysterious robot takoyaki!

[kadokane]

5/4

Another place I visited was the Kyoto International Manga Museum. This place was amazing. It hosts more than 300,000 manga volumes, and various manga publishing magazines from as far back as the 1960s. And all of it is available to public for reading and studying. I couldn't take many pictures (it is a museum still) but they had various displaces of different types of art and things, and it is definitely a place I will not forget.

[kadokane]

5/4

Another famous part of Ginkakuji is the sand gardens. The smoothness and precision that must go into creating and maintaining them seems immense. It is quite impressive.

[kadokane]

5/4

So yeah, Ginkakuji isn't actually silver. I know, it is quite disappointing. Now you may ask why it is called the Silver Pavilion if it is not actually silver. Well, it was supposed to be. However, they ran out of money during the construction of the building, and were unable to coat it in silver like they did with Kinkakuji. Unfortunate, since silver is much better than gold.

[kadokane]

5/4

After going to Kinkakuji, the obvious next spot to visit was Ginkakuji, the Silver Pavilion. The area around Ginkakuji is even more beautiful then the area around Kinkakuji. It even had its own bamboo forest. Really awesome stuff.

[kadokane]

5/4

Now for some actual pictures of the building itself. It is quite the amazing building. I mean, it is literally covered in gold. That, my friends, is how to waste money in style.