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Japan – Day 21 (Kyoto)

Well, I was a bit bummed today. I was going to go back to Hikone and see the teachers at JCMU, but I got an email from them this morning that the reason their schedules were clear this week is because it’s finals week and the students are all doing their conversation finals in the afternoon. I completely forgot about that, I think I mentally blocked that out; but as soon as I read the explanation I had like PTSD flashbacks of giving those presentations and how they were back-to-back and just uggggghhh, oh nooooo, yes I understand. Poor kids, and poor teachers. I’m frustrated at myself for not checking in at JCMU earlier, I could have gone last week, but hindsight is 20/20. I seriously thought none of them were there anymore!

With my plans for the day dashed, I started thinking of what else I could do today when I heard thunder outside so I opened the blinds and sure enough it was POURING outside. Maybe not going to Hikone wasn’t a bad thing (15 minutes walking to Kyoto Station, 1.25 hours on the train, 40 minutes walking to JCMU in pouring rain…) So I pretty much just stayed in the hotel and played video games and relaxed on my bed.

Finally around 4pm the clouds broke just in time for sunset. I was getting hungry at this point, so I got dressed and walked to Kyoto Station to pick up my train ticket to Tokyo for tomorrow then went down into the sublevels for food. I was looking for donburi of some sort, but ended up finding a taco place! I can’t recall ever seeing a taco place here, so of course I got some chicken tacos. Then I went a little further to a gyoza place where they make it all from scratch and got some of those.

After eating, I decided I didn’t really want to go back to the hotel yet, and I’ve read that Fushimi Inari is cool (and kind of creepy) at night rather than the crowded daytime hours, so I got on the train over there. I’ve been before and it wasn’t on my list for this trip because even back then it was so crowded you could barely move, but it hadn’t occurred to me before to go at night since it’s open 24/7. Sure enough, there was hardly anyone there, and it was really cool and creepy. I didn’t climb all the way up to the top of Mt. Inari, my legs were actually pretty sore from all of the climbing at Mt. Hiei yesterday, but I got halfway up to the viewpoint that overlooks Kyoto then made my way back down with a nice couple from Taiwan. At one point a shrine cat spotted us and walked in front of us for a while until we reached his exit, so we all patted him before going the rest of the way down. I got back on the train and walked to the hotel, then started packing up for the trip to Tokyo tomorrow.

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Japan – Day 20 (Kyoto)

I woke up to a gorgeous sunny morning and sat by the window drinking coffee and watching the sunrise for a while, then booked hotels and stuff for the next few days in Tokyo and rearranged hotels for the Iceland trip. Once all the adulting was done, I showered and dressed and headed northeast to Mt. Hiei known as the birthplace of Japanese Buddhism since the oldest buildings are from around 800 A.D. Once again the Kyoto buses failed me and I ended up walking to the trains and lost about an hour, gah! But the trains are almost always on time, so I made it up to the cable car and ropeway to the top of the mountain. I took the bus (that only does a loop so no way to get the wrong one) to Enryaku-ji, a Tendai monastery towards the top of the mountain. I didn’t know that the main temple is undergoing massive reconstruction for the next 12 years so it was completely covered. You could still go inside though, and it was funny because you could see where they had removed the metal decorations because the paint still looked fresh underneath versus where it was exposed to air and people. The whole mountain has temples and shrines scattered across it, but I mainly focused on the two bigger areas including Konponchudo Temple (the one that was covered up), Daikodo Temple, Amidado Temple (which has a really cool golden Buddha inside but you can’t take photos of it) and Hokkesojin-toto Temple. Supposedly there’s a monkey temple up there somewhere, but the sun was setting and I wanted to get to my next stop. I made my way back down the mountain and watched the sun set from the ropeway and cable car, the sky was pink and orange and the mountains were blue and purple so it was really beautiful.

Once down, I hiked about 20 minutes further north to Nyan-Nyan-ji. For those that don’t know “nyan” in Japanese is the equivalent of “meow” for us in English; it’s the sound a cat makes for them. Nyan-Nyan-ji isn’t actually a temple as the name suggests, it’s literally this guy’s house with the front part of it converted into a little tea house, gift shop, and in the back a shrine he built and dedicated to his cats. He is head over heels in love with his cats, and decided everyone else needed to worship them too so he built his shop and dresses his cats up in little monk outfits and lets them play with guests. I thought that they also took in shelter cats, but that turned out to be a rumor. They do take donations for the local shelter though, and they support local artists by selling their original cat themed artwork in their gallery. The owner’s son is also a very gifted artist who’s basically an art prodigy and won his first major award at 12 years old, and he painted all the cats everywhere in the interior of the building. The son was there today, so I bought one of his art books and had him sign it with his pen name. Who knows, maybe it will be worth millions one day? I picked up some other original art from the commission gallery, and sat with the cat of the day named Lon for a while until it was time to catch my bus downtown. I was a good hour out by then, so I just sat back and relaxed until it was time to get off then grabbed some food and went back to the hotel. Man, I love these deep soak bathtubs I’m really gonna miss this when I go home after this week…I can’t believe it’s already December!

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Japan – Day 19 (Hikone)

Well today wound up being a day of good feels! I slept in a little, stopped and got some coffee, then hopped on a train to Hikone. Hikone is where I lived for 4 months in 2001, and 10 months in 2003/2004 the last time I was here. It’s the home of the Japan Center for Michigan Universities, and I have a lot of great memories of this area. One of my favorite castles, and one of the most original of the remaining castles, is Hikone Castle and both the castle itself and the area where it’s located are pretty cool. Personally, I think it’s fabulous in the spring with the hundreds of cherry trees lined up along all of the canals and inside, they even have a separate plum blossom garden which I think is underrated. But it’s still pretty in the autumn too! I walked all around the castle and went inside, I forgot how scary the stairs are but in a funny way. They’re basically more like a ladder than stairs, you have to be careful. Then I made my way through the tree gardens down the back side exit over to the actual castle gardens and private residences for the old royalty.

My original plan was, at this point, to go back to the station and head to Nagahama but since I was here anyway I decided to walk over to Lake Biwa and say hello. After enjoying Lake Biwa for a while, I wondered if my favorite udon shop was still around and looked for it out of memory on Google Maps and hallelujah it was still there! They make this thing called oyako udon, and they use the regular thick udon noodles but with a chicken stock broth (instead of the usual miso or pork base) with egg and chicken and I swear this was the only thing I could tolerate for weeks until I got a taste for Japanese food when I first came here and I have had so many dreams of eating it again…so, despite being a little over a mile away I said screw it and walked along the lake shore to get to the restaurant. Unfortunately just as I walked up they were closing for cleaning and would reopen at 5pm. So that left 2 hours to kill.

I wasn’t planning on going to JCMU today, after all it was Saturday and I didn’t think anyone would be there plus I was pretty sure everyone I knew there had retired or left. At least I didn’t recognize anyone in the pictures they’ve posted to social media these past few years. But it was nearby, so I went over thinking I could get a couple photos out front at least. As I walked up, I noticed some people walking inside so I went in to take a look. I met a lovely woman named Mai who worked in the main office so I introduced myself and told her how I used to study here and asked her if any of my old teachers were still around. Turns out they aren’t only still around, they still work here! Well, dang, if I had known that I would have come here sooner! I asked if she could give me a tour (they don’t allow guests to just roam around, of course). I swear y’all this place has barely changed! The carpet is the same, the fixtures are the same, the flags still hang off the railing, the classrooms are all the same, the garden, the tea room, even the smell…the only major thing that’s changed is they reduced the size of the computer room (because who really needs it anymore?) and turned it into a school for kids under 12 years old. Mai said they have nearly 100 kids learning English here, and it started up around 2012-2014 and that is just fantastic! Mai took a picture of me out front, and we went back inside to try and figure out how I could meet up with my old teachers. I was supposed to take the bullet train back to Tokyo on Monday, but I haven’t actually booked anything yet so I gave her all of my details and asked if she could possibly please email them to see if they’d like to meet. I still had an hour left before I could go eat, so I walked behind the school to the water break wall and walked along the waterfront then sat and watched the sunset for an hour.

Once the udon place was open again, I went over and ate the oyako udon of my dreeeeeams. That stuff is so delicious, and I have never been able to find any other place that makes it like that in any country I’ve visited. It’s also one of the few places where I actually like their tea. I’m so happy Tsurutsuru (お食事処 つるつる) is still around! After eating and warming up, I put on my warm jacket, gloves and hat and hiked the near 2 miles back to the train station and hopped on an express train back to Kyoto. Once I had a moment to sit down I checked my phone and already had an email from Mai that she heard back from my teachers and they could meet on Monday, HUZZAH! As soon as I got to my hotel I extended my stay there until Tuesday and practically skipped up to my room!