A Southern Expatriate: Adventures in Kyoto (Day 1)

Riza and I with our "kawaii" Japanese gals

Kyoto Tower

Better safe than sorry

Okay, so before I talk about my first day in Kyoto, I have to say,

Ringing the bells a Fushimi Inari

Washing my hands before entering Fushimi Inari

out of all the things I have seen in Japan, I am most impressed with their ability to park in the smallest parking spots EVER. Riza's mom can back her car into a parking spot that is about a foot wide, and do it in one try. Now that I have said that, I can get on to my adventures in Kyoto. Kyoto is about an hour away, so we woke up that morning and had a little breakfast and hit the road. As you can tell from the picture above, I was feeling a little under the weather, so I put on my mask to protect others from my illness (I wasn't really sick, I just wanted to wear a mask). One thing that I found funny about Kyoto is the location of the shrines and temples. You will be walking down a busy city street and then all of a sudden you will be at the gates of a huge temple. Once you walk in the temple, you forget that you are in a city, unless you happen to look around and see Kyoto Tower in the distance. A perfect example of that is the first shrine we went to, The Fushimi Inari Shrine. It is a shrine dedicated to Inari (the god of rice and business). Local businesses eager to please Inari donated the shrine's many orange/red gates (torii). The shrine stands at the foot of a mountain. There are several mountain paths that lead up to smaller shrines. Many are dedicated to foxes (foxes are the messengers of Inari). Foxes are sometimes considered gods themselves and are thought to have the ability to shape shift to human form. Before we entered the shrine we had to wash our hands with this water that was coming out of faucets made out of bamboo to cleanse ourselves. Some people were drinking the water or swishing it around in their mouths and spitting it back in so that was a little nasty but peer pressure got the best of me, and I did it anyway. When I got in there I kept hearing all of these bells ringing and people clapping, so I went to go find out what it was. What you do is you walk up to this shrine, put a coin in, bow twice, ring the bell, clap twice, and then pray, then once you are done praying, bow again. So Riza made me do this, and of course I was extremely awkward about the whole thing. I felt like all the

It's the latest fashion

people around me were looking at me like, "Who is this stupid white boy clapping like an idiot." But I clapped away, and prayed that I didn't look completely stupid. When you walk up the mountain there are all of these little shrines that are dedicated to different things, like knee and back injuries, finding a lover, things like that. When you find a shrine that pertains to you, you go up and pretty much do the same thing that I said before. One shrine we stopped at was for back and knee injuries because of Riza's brother, Miran, who is a gymnast and hurt his knee and had surgery on it. In this shrine, you light incense and stick it in this sand in a pot and waft the smoke on your body where the pain is, or at least I think that is how it works, not really sure, but that is what I did anyway. There was this other shrine that had a stone sitting on a pedestal and you go up to it and pray three times for something, and if you pick up the stone and it is light then it is a good sign for your prayers. I have to say the highlight of my first shrine visit was the picture to your right. This man had a shirt that just simply said, "bitch". Not sure if he knew what it

A little heavy

meant and was trying to be funny, or he honestly had no idea and thought it meant something else. Either way, I was not going to leave that shrine without a picture of it. I was following him for a good five minutes to try and get a good picture, finally I just walked right up behind him and took it, no shame. The next place we went to was the Kiyomizu-Dera, which is a Buddhist Temple. It was founded in 780 and the present structure was rebuilt in 1633. In the main sanctuary called Hondo, there is a well known stage called "Kiyo-mizu no Butai". It is a stage with railings that look over a really big drop and it is supported by long pillars and the Hiwadabuki roof which is thatched with ayers of cypress barks. I uploaded a picture of part of the stage and the drop so you can see just how far a drop it is to the ground from the stage. Riza told me that in Japan they have a saying that when you are

Riza's Mom steals the photo

trying to do something hard it is like jumping off the Kiyo-mizu no Butai stage. I would love to come back during the spring because Kiyomizu Temple is ranked number one in Kyoto where you can see the cherry-blossoms in the spring. When we were coming down from the temple there was a narrow street with all of these stores and every time I would see a white person, which was almost never, I would be just as shocked as all the asians. I have noticed that when I see little kids they will stare at me like I have two heads. It takes all of my energy and self control to not jump at them and see what they do. The adults aren't as bad, for the most part they will just do a double

10 bucks to whoever tells me what car brand this is

take. It is really weird looking into a huge sea of people and not seeing anyone with blonde or brown hair; it is a weird feeling being the minority, when previously I was always in similar company. While we were walking down the street, I saw these two girls dressed in Kimonos, so of course I had to get a picture with them. I felt a little silly, but when they asked to get a picture with me, I didn't feel as stupid. The next place we went to was the Nijo Castle, one of the largest castles in Japan. It was originally build in 1603 as the officially Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the castle, so I have a lot outside and in the gardens. When I was in the castle I kept thinking to myself how cool it was that you could hear all the birds outside so clearly, they were really loud. Then the bird sounds kept going on and on and would not give up. Then there was finally a sign that said the floors of the castle have a distinctive squeak. This is by design. The purpose: to detect ninja assassins. The fact that I could be walking in the same place that ninja assassins had walked, or assassinated, was pretty cool. When you go in to the castle, and almost every other place inside, you have to take off your shoes and put on these slippers. It is so funny to see all of these little asian shoes and my big ole boots right next to them, it is even funnier watching me try to put on my shoes without stepping on the wooden part where no shoes are allowed, it is really difficult.

Kiyomizu-Dera

There are so many cars that have logos that I have never seen before, like the one above. I have also seen a Lexus SUV with a Toyota emblem on it, so I guess we are not cool enough in American to get that car. I decided to premier my Japanese outfit my first day in Kyoto. I saw some dude getting a picture on a stump by a tree, so I decided to copy him and give a sensible peace sign to fit with my attire for the day, I uploaded a picture, feel free to print and frame. I also uploaded a picture of a McDonalds, which might look normal, but if you look at it more you will notice that the colors are different. Riza told me that because the McDonalds in is Kyoto, they had to tone their colors down and they weren't allowed to use the bright red that they would typically use. Little differences like this I think are really fun to take note of. After all the temples, we went to meet Riza's brother, Miran, to get dinner. We went to this really cool ramen place where you pick the type of ramen you like based on the location geographically like Northern Japan, Tokyo, Osaka, and other places, and then you go eat at that little restaurant. It felt a lot like Chelsea Market because it had an under ground type of feel,

The drop from Kiyo-mizu no Butai

Wafting the incense at Kiyomizu-Dera

which I get from Chelsea Market, and there is a main walk way with little shops all down it (you kind of get a feel from the picture I uploaded). When you get to the restaurant that you want to eat at you go to a machine and put in your money and choose what you want to eat, so you don't have waiters or anything and you get your food pretty quick once you are seated. I had miso ramen with beef in it, it was super duper, and I used my chop sticks like a pro. We also went to the mall, and let me tell you, they take their arcade games seriously. There was a huge arcade with all of these crazy looking games and all the colors were really bright and loud. My favorite game was the ping pong game (not really sure what the objective was) and this guitar hero-esque game but with the big asian drums. There was one guy that was a beast at it, I could have stood there and watched him for hours.

In the mall there are these photo booths that are really popular and pretty much what they do are try and make you look white, but if you are already white you just end up looking deformed. It is supposed to make your eyes bigger, so my already big eyes were HUGE. Then you get to decorate the pictures and Riza's brother asked me what blood type I was while he was decorating them, which is probably the most random question given I had just met him and we were decorating photo booth pictures at this computer. I was thinking, maybe he needs a blood transfusion, I mean we just met, but if he really needs it then I guess I can help him out. Riza then told me that in Japan people kind of judge people by what blood types they have. Blood type A is very strict and neat and hard worker. B do their own thing and usually are recognized as a selfish person, so to ask someone if they are blood type B is a rude thing to do in Japan (weird). AB blood type is usually a weird person, kind of not normal but could be a talented person, you could either be stupid or talented (Riza's words not mine). AB's can sometimes be two faced, Riza is AB, it all makes sense now. O is very open minded and kind of lazy. These blood types don't matter if it is + or -, all types fit under the same characteristics. When walking to the mall we passed this sick fountain that made all of these shapes and words with falling water. I took a picture right when it was saying, "Welcome to (whatever the place was we were at, I forgot)". In the picture you can kind of make out the "T" and the "O". I was sitting there watching it and laughing at all the stuff it did, while everyone walked passed me not impressed and thought I was crazy, but oh well, I loved it. Before we went to the mall, I made Miran put on my boots just to see what he thought about them. He liked the fact that they made you a lot taller, but other than that, I don't think the liked them that much, I was offended. In the hotel we were staying at we were only about two blocks away from the Kyoto Tower which looks like an Asian version of the Space Needle. One thing that blew my mind about the hotel is the size of the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash they supply you. I was stoked to get to take that home with me, after taking that I wouldn't have to buy shampoo for like a month, but then Riza told me you aren't allowed to take it, so that sucked. When we were in the room I went to charge my iphone and the plugs were this weird shape. I was afraid

Entrance to Nijo Castle

my phone might blow up if I plugged it in, but I did it anyway, and everything was fine, I don't know why they don't just have normal plugs, they crazy. On our beds were these things called Yukata, which I thought were Kimonos, but I was quickly corrected, thanks Riza. Riza was putting her's on, then a look of extreme terror came across her face. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she forgot what side went over which. I asked her why it mattered, and she said that dead people wear their Yukatas the other way than living people, so we had to figure that one out pretty quick because we ain't dead. It turns out if you are alive the left side goes over the right, crisis averted. I also had a very exciting first when watching a Japanese TV show while Riza was showering, I understood my first Japanese words on TV. I know some Japanese words, but when they talk it is like they are going a million miles an hour, so I was really excited when I understood something. The actor was Kento Hayashi and he will always have a special place in my heart from now on. I took a picture of him on the exact TV that I understood the sweet, sweet words from. What I understood was, "Thank you very much" which might seem

Slippers before going in Nijo Castle

easy, but you come to Japan and listen to them speak and you will think other wise. So, in honor of me understanding my first words, my Japanese word for this post is going to be the phrase I understood, not a word. So, "Thank you very much" is, arigato gozaimasu
ありがとうございます