Speedy's Travels

This blog is meant to document my travels and experiences in Japan, as well as any other future trips I may take

[speedytravels]

A Little Bit Of Nerdom at Kinkakuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.

[speedytravels]

Kyoto Botanical Gardens

[speedytravels]

Kyoto Botanical Gardens

[speedytravels]

Kyoto Botanical Gardens

[speedytravels]

Kyoto Botanical Gardens, Japan

[speedytravels]

Kyoto Botanical Gardens

[speedytravels]

Kyoto botanical gardens, Japan

[speedytravels]

Kyoto Botannical Gardens, Japan

[speedytravels]

Hikone Castle, Hikone, Japan

[speedytravels]

The View from Hikone Castle, Japan

[speedytravels]

Nijo Castle, Kyoto, Japan

[speedytravels]

Fan Painting, Kyoto

[speedytravels]

Sorry for the late post, we got home a little late from our adventure last night so I didn't have time to type up a decent summary.... Anyway! Yesterday uscatsplants and I went to Hikone to visit some friends; we were supposed to go to a festival, but by the time we got there, the festival was already over... That didn't stop us though! Instead, we went to a lovely temple (that I didn't take any pictures of....) and Hikone Castle! The castle was so cool: first, the gardens surrounding the castle were so gorgeous. According to one of the signs, there is a species of raspberry plant found only in the castle. The flowers were in bloom (all of the Sakura trees are in full leaf so there was no trace of pink anymore) but if anything, the green made it even lovelier. The castle itself was incredibly well preserved, and there were a couple of cool points about it: in the tower section, there were divots in the wall called te ppo za ma, which were actually rifle or archer posts, but they were covered in plaster so that they were hidden from the outside. In case of an attack, the soldiers would break through the plaster and start shooting. The top most area had a secret room where people would hide to listen in to conversations, but because of the angle and size we couldn't go in. Then there was the matter of shoes. So, in Japan, it is a completely normal thing to take off your shoes in certain areas (homes, fitting rooms, certain temples, etc.) and Hikone Castle was the same! When we walked in, we were handed plastic bags for our shoes and pointed to an area to remove them. That was great and everything, but I was wearing flats... With no socks. No one else thought it was a big deal, but I felt pretty bad about it standing in the foyer--until I stepped on the wood. It was such a soft wood, it felt lovely under my feet. Walking on it was so relaxing. The stairs were a little painful because of the grips, but it was really nice to not have to wear shoes. Kinda felt like home in a way XD So that was our adventure! Afterwards, we had a huge dinner and eventually made our way back to the station to catch a late train back home. It's golden week so I'll be having a lot of adventures this week! See you soon! -Speedy

[speedytravels]

Where did we go that requires us to take off our shoes? (No the answer is not "anywhere in Japan") Check out the blog post later for the answer!

[speedytravels]

Ok! Now we’re back for part 2! The item you see in the pictures above is a しゅういんじょう or, stamp book. These can be purchased for varying prices (the first one we encountered was 1800 yen, whereas this one was 1000 yen), and when you take it to a shrine or temple, you can get a stamp (plus some gorgeous calligraphy) in your book.  I heard about these before I left, thanks to one of my mom’s coworkers who had previously lived in Japan. They had mentioned it as a souvenir, literally a map of all the shrines and temples you had been to; seeing as I have great plans to go to as many temples and shrines as possible, it seemed like the perfect item to invest in. I bought this booklet from Yasaka Shrine, and while I’ll be working on figuring out exactly what the message on the front of the book says (someone suggested that they sometimes have blessings on the front? I suppose I’ll have to hope so for the time being) I’m excited that I’ll get to slowly fill this up as I go around Japan! I, as well as many of the other students who have also purchased and started filling one of these during their stay here, definitely suggest buying one if you’re going to be staying in Japan (and seeing shrines) for any length of time.  

[speedytravels]

Alrighty!! I would like to welcome to the trip a one, Mr. Sven Mallory, courtesy of a dear friend of mine who sent him along with me so that he could see the world. The two of us (along with a large group of friends) participated in 花見 (hanami), literally, flower viewing. This normally refers to cherry blossom viewing explicitly. As you can kind of see behind Sven, and in the other picture featured, the blossoms we viewed were only about half bloomed, but they were gorgeous nonetheless!  Now, as for the funny adventure of the day, three of us decided to go to a Baskin Robbins that happened to be nearby the the meeting place, more than anything to see exactly which thirty-one flavors they had! Well, the first thing we saw walking in the door was the menu (seen above) which is actually, entirely in japanese. So the three of us (being all basic level students of the language) sat there for a good ten minutes puzzling through the katakana names ( “ra-mu-reh-shin?” “oh! rum raisin!” “ro-bu-po-shon? what is a robuposhon?” *two minutes later* “LOVE POTION!”); when we finally decided on what flavors we thought we wanted, we got up to the counter to find that the labels on the glass all had the english names on them. I had a panda sundae with easter egg hunt ice cream. おいしいです!  I will be back shortly with the final adventure of the day, and insight to a fun activity for anyone who may be visiting Japan for an extended length of time in the future! - Speedy

[todayintokyo]

Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto

[speedytravels]

Hopefully we’re going to check this out over the weekend! I hope we do, I’ve been waiting to see it :)