Kansai Dreams

Hello Friends,

It is late Sunday night here in Tokyo. The weather has cooled down from a HOT HOT HOT Sunday and there is a light breeze on the air. I am very tired from this weekend, but figured I owed it to all of my readers to post.

On Friday night at 9:30 pm I arrived at Tokyo Station. After asking around a bit, I found myself dashing to the other side of the station, arriving with still a half hour to spare before my overnight bus arrived. I met Lora at the bus stop and we had a chance to chat for a bit before my bus came. The Bus I took to Kyoto was a double-decker all-ladies bus run by the JR Group. I was seated in the front row of the top deck, I had lots of leg room a nice foot rest and a fan right above me. The curtains were drawn, but I had one last peek at a drizzly Tokyo night before taking my dramamine and falling to sleep. Thanks to me medication, a sleep mask and ear plugs I successfully slept the entire 8 hour journey arriving around 5:45 in the morning in Kyoto. The only thing I remember is the driver saying that we were 15 minutes from Kyoto. Many of the ladies began to open the windows, and I got a nice frontal view of the Kyoto landscape. For anyone who has seen Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke, you can imagine what the hills of Kyoto look like. Green hills as far as the eyes can see with clouds nestled between them. Kyoto itself was a bustling metropolis in a bit of a basin before us.

I arrived at Kyoto station around the same time as Lora, and we set out to find a bathroom to change out of our sleep clothes. The Kyoto Station is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever been in. It houses a 5 star hotel and a 6+ Story luxury Mall. The Architecture is just marvelous (my meager photos which I will post later cannot do it justice). Soon afterwards the rest of our group (other Camp Staff from the Embassy) arrived and we breakfasted on fresh bread from a European-style bakery (constant fixtures around Japan).
After a lot of waiting around we finally got our bus pass (only 500 yen!) around 8:30 and set out for the flea market at the Kitano-Tenman-gu Shrine . The painted wood carvings on the eaves of the shrine were exquisite, and the lanterns were beautiful (I bet even more lovely at night). The Shrine was very peaceful, perfectly symmetrical and therefore very pleasing to the mind. Outside of the shrine the noisy flea market droned on, but inside all was still and quiet and slow.
After we had finished exploring the shrine we returned to the flea market. Suddenly, the heavens opened and a huge downpour descended upon us. The rain would not let-up until the end of the day, and the volume was incredible. Shop keepers ran for tarps to cover their wares and customers fleed to covered spaces and buses. We hopped on a bus ourselves to see the Golden Pavilion.

The rain did not mar the immense beauty of the Kinkaku-ji in the least bit. Though the walk around the pavilion and into the surrounding hills was dangerously slippery we made the best of our trip. The Golden Pavilion was probably my favourite part of the trip. I was a bit disappointed to discover that the current building is a recent reconstruction (a mad monk burned it down during the last century), so it is hard to imagine what it would have looked like during it's heyday. After we had finished walking the trail through the Kinkaku-ji's Gardens we had tea and snacks at a small teahouse. It was glorious to get out of the rain, dry off a bit and take our soaking shoes off. The one disappointment was that the tea was cold! On a day like Saturday, hot tea was the only way to go!

Following the Golden Pavilion, we decided to go to the amazing Nijo Castle. The castle was constructed by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1601, and for its time it was an architectural marvel. The exterior cravings are all symmetrical and elaborate--it is hard to imagine that it was all done by hand! The interiors featured artwork from the famed Kano school. Inside the castle I saw the room where Tokugawa Yoshinobu renounced the Tokugawa Shogunate and returned the powers to Imperial hands. It was amazing to be in a place with so much history--a place truly worthy of being called a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lora and I spent an hour exploring the Castle's Grounds, and then waited another hour at the entrance of the castle for the rest of the group to come. By the time we were all ready to leave it was already 4:00, and a decision had to be made.

Weeks ago some of the girls from the Embassy were fortunate enough to spend an entire weekend in Kyoto. During their stay they found a "Monkey Park" on the outskirts of town on top of a mountain. All of the kids from the embassy were excited about going to this attraction, but I still wanted to see more shrines and the Gion district (the Geisha District). A decision was made, and since I had to stay with at least one other person, I was forced to race to the Monkey Park with the rest of the group. When we finally reached our destination, it didn't look like we were going to make it (it was 4:45 and the Monkey Park was apparently only open until 5:00). When we tried to get off the bus we discovered that our unlimited bus pass did not extend this far outside of Kyoto and we were forced to pay the full fare. We ran across a river on a beautiful bridge and reached a Shinto shrine which was right next to the entrance of the Monkey Park. 550 yen and a 20 minute hike up later, I found myself on top of a mountain surrounded by Japanese macaques.

I have always admired the adaptability and intelligence of Macaques. Japanese Macaques have learned to wash their food before eating it, and have also discovered the benefits of hot springs in cold weather. They are probably my favourite Old World Monkey next to Baboons. It is because of my great love of Macaques that caused me to become infuriated about the "Monkey Park." I had envisioned a park that allowed visitors to observe Japanese Macaques in their natural environment. The Macaques at the Monkey Park had totally become reliant on humans. Their behaviour was completely changed from the Japanese Macaques I had studied in the past. The thing that startled me the most was the lack of grooming, a habit that all primates take great pleasure in. Instead all of the macaques were occupied with scratching and biting each other in order to get fruits and nuts purchased at a small resting house. The Macaques hung onto the screens on the windows holding their hands out for food, sometimes even batting away their own infants in order to be fed. I am a fond adherent to the idea that animals should be seen and not interfered with, and all I could see was how humans had totally made self-reliance impossible for these Macaques. Macaque babies learn from watching their mothers, and the violence and competition that I saw would mean that for generations these macaques would be dependent on humans for their survival and not each other. I shuddered to think what would happen to these poor animals if the park fell on hard times and closed. Macaques can only learn through observation; therefore if no natural bahaviour is exhibited then no natural behaviour will be passed to the next generation. I was so upset that I left the group early and opted to meet them at the foot of the mountain. I couldn't stand being up there any more.

After Monkey Mountain we walked around a bit looking for a place to eat (We hadn't eaten since our bread breakfast). We finally settled on an Udon restaurant. Udon is a dish native to the kansai region--and my tempura udon was delicious (and fish based as well!). I really wanted to try Shoujin Ryori (Traditional Buddhist Vegetarian Cuisine) which I heard was exquisite in Kyoto, but no one else seemed interested.

By the time we got out of dinner, it was already dark. We walked across the bridge and watched a Cormorant fishing demonstration. In Feudal times, fisherman would catch Cormorants and put metal rings and leashes around their nets. The fisherman would skillfully train their Cormorants to hunt fish as they would normally do in the wild, but the rings prevented the Cormorants from eating the fish themselves. The fishermen would take the fish from the Cormorants--this method required little effort and had a high yield. While seeing birds tied together and forced to hunt food they couldn't eat bothered me a bit, I couldn't deny that I was privileged to see such a time-honoured tradition.

After the fishing demonstration, we got on a bus back to central Kyoto. After paying the fee (again) and transferring, we found our way back to Kyoto station. We had a light snack and the Embassy went on their way back to Tokyo. Lora and I explored the station a bit before our bus arrived promptly at 11:30 pm. We were seated next to each other on the top part of the bus in the back. It was extremely hot with little leg room--nothing like the trip down. I had an uneasy sleep--and was constantly waking up from getting overheated. When we reached Tokyo, Lora and I had a light breakfast and went our separate ways. I got home, took a shower and collapsed into bed. When I woke up I was still lamenting the fact that I went all the way to Kyoto to see only 3 sights and a monkey park--I have to admit I am a little disappointed.

When I woke up I decided to get lunch at my usual Indian restaurant. When I exited the house I was shocked at how hot it was outside. After lunch I retreated back into my apartment where I read until I received a call from Rie. Rie and Euma invited me to join them in Odaiba for the evening.

I took the Yurikamome transit system from Shimbashi and enjoyed one of the best views of Tokyo at night from the train. It was certainly the best public transit system I have ever been on in my life. While in Odaiba I got to put my feet into the Pacific Ocean, and explored the bay side. I also got to see Tokyo's Statue of Liberty, which was surprisingly quite small. Rie took me to the taping of a Fuji Television special (think MTV's Spring Break special every year--but bigger, with different events across Japan and fireworks). I was interested to see all of the excited Japanese girls who waited anxiously for a glimpse of their favourite idol. Euma was very excited about the entire show, and it was cool to be a part of the action (running from exit to exit looking for celebrities, soaking in the culture etc.) After the show ended we went to a mall on the promenade for dinner. I ordered a pasta set and discovered halfway through that the sauce had meat in it. At first it was just the taste that grossed me out, but I felt very ill by the time I got on my train. A dose of pepto-bismol and a can of mitsuya cider later I am feeling much better...but am still grossed out that I actually ate meat (and it tasted awful!).

So, that was my weekend. I hope this long and detailed blog makes up for some of the rather *ahem* brief accounts of late. I will try to post pictures soon, but no promises.

All my love.